About 4 or 5yrs ago starter started making noise. Bought a new starter & had my brother in law install it while i was at work. He called & said nothing wrong with starter, you lost a bolt & was kicking starter sidways causing the noise. Anyways had him install the new one & a new bolt. Not a problem until sat fired it up & was making grinding noise. I had him look at the starter while i started it & this time a bolt missing again, but not so easy this time. This time bolt broke at threads & are in the block. Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem, going to try to drill & eay out it, not much room. If anyone else has had this problem, what did you do to fix it. By the way 97 GMC Jimmy. Thanks

 

OK your in WV so you should at the very least have the weather on your side for a couple of days!
It's kind of a strange problem. Never had that one and have done the starter on my 95 at least four times.
My best guess would be at some point the bolt got lose on the first one or was cross threaded before you got the truck.
There are lot's of ways to get snapped bolts out.
Spend a good hour on youtube.
No idea what you have access to.
I would really jack it up, safely , pull the pass side well and wheel then clean the crapp off the motor with detergent. Heat that thing with some map's gas and lot's of PB blast.
Give your easy out a try.
If you do get it out that way run a tap one size larger and coarser on the thread.
Re-bolt with correct size and some blue lock-tight.


Make sure it's very clean before you heat it!
Flames can suck!

 

make sure you put actual starter bolts back in, they are made to prevent the vibration and wobbling of the starter. most the times i see this it ends up cracking the block up where one of the starter bolts thread into. since most people dont want to replace their engine we end up building a bracket for the back side of the starter to help stabilize it. which in some cases fixes the problem, others it just kinda helps with the grinding and noise

 

Well after alot of trips to hardware store, its fixed. Had to buy a 12'' 1/4 bit extender, then a keyless chuck, & lots of drill bits. Yes it got both new starter bolts from the dealership.