I had my starter fail with a pretty nasty noise, and I pulled it out to find a big chunk missing! I recently removed and re-inserted it for a clutch job and it failed about a week later, so I'm not sure if I caused this somehow. There was a slightly rattliness for a few startups then it just suddenly failed to start with a horrible noise. I bump started the car to get it home and although I didn't hear it, the flywheel was clearly grinding on the broken piece. I had to pull the end out with pliers. Fortunately it's running okay with a new starter even though I left all kinds of metal shavings in the bell housing. Has anyone else seen this before, and did I cause it somehow? Should I be worried my new starter will do the same thing?

 

I was thinking flywheel contact, then I read you had a clutch service performed. My guess would be it wasn’t lined up correctly after replacement, and the flywheel broke that chunk off.