Replacement of that starter has to be done from under the car. This is because of the way the starter mounts to the engine and that you need to remove a cover under the engine to get to the mounting bolts as well as the issue that the starter motor will not fit through the area to bring it out the top of the car.
You need enough room to get under the car, I suggest ramps or a jack and jack stands. First though you will need to disconnect the battery on top. Disconnect the negative terminal and move it so it cannot reconnect. Then lift the car. Once you are under it you remove the plastic undercar shield (if it's still there, many have been torn off or broken over the years). With it off you can see the starter. Next remove the plastic torque converter cover that also covers the starter mounting bolts. I generally like to reach up in and see if there is any slack in the wiring to the starter, depending on how they route the harness it may have quite a bit. If so I like to remove the mounting bolts for the starter first, Watch for any shims between the starter and engine block, they may be needed to install the replacement starter. Don't let the starter hang from the wiring, you just want to lower it enough to make access to the wiring easier. Then remove the battery power feed and the starting wires from the solenoid. If there is little slack then you reverse those two and reach up and remove the wiring first, then unbolt the starter.
With the starter out, clean up the wires you removed so the terminals are clean.
Compare the new starter to the one you removed, GM used a different starter on the 3.1 and sometimes the parts stores may give you the wrong one.
Reverse the process to install the new one.
This shows the process but on a different car, your starter mounts from below:
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-a-starter-motor
This is a good video on the 3.1 replacement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL6xtY-RzRQ
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Saturday, April 17th, 2021 AT 9:19 AM
