What brand was it? New or reman?

 

Loose flexplate?

 

Unfortunately the label came off cause it was coated in a bunch of oil so I'm not sure the brand, but I do know it was new (not reman) and it was done at a shop for a premium so I'm guessing it wasn't a cheap part (but who knows, that whole debacle is why I gave up on shops and started doing my own work).

I'm not particularly well equipped to drop the transmission and replace the flywheel myself... unfortunately there aren't any trade schools in town that I could make use of either. At what mileage do they tend to need replacing? Seems like a common problem for XJs

 

Do you have a standard trans or automatic?

 

Automatic

 

OK you don't have have a flywheel (per se) you have a flexplate. Go back under there and pull the starter again and the inspection plate. The 6 bolts that you see may loosen up and cause flexplate banging. Or the flexplate can crack, or the center break out completely. This is easy stuff that you can do for free.

Does the drive gear on the old starter look warn? If a starter bench tests fine, but messes up in the XJ, IMO you really gotta vet that out. I wish you had a better view of what the engine was doing when you had the old starter in. It's like a dozen teeth catch then it misses, then repeats. Like a slipping clutch.