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380SL Starter Trouble?

My 380 SL has an intermitent starter problem. Every second or third morning it turns over very slowly as if the battery is low on charge, once the engine starts and shuts down everything works fine. The car has 170,000 miles, battery is new and the connections at the battery are clean. One time last week it sounded like the starter stayed engaged for a couple of seconds after the key was released. Is the problem possibly brushes? solenoid? bushings? drive? combination of all? I haven't even looked yet, does anyone know how hard is it to remove this starter? Any unique tricks I should know about? Thanks in advance, Doug

Reply to
dkmcp
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I would start with battery wire...old wire that is corroded or oxidized inside will make starter act wierd.

Reply to
Tiger

Checked the battery wire, clean both ends, all seems OK. Battery voltage 12.8. A new thing happened this morning, the starter did not turn off when the engine started. It acted like the ignition switch was still engaged but the starter drive was not. You could hear the starter motor running for about 20 seconds after the engine started. Could this be the solenoid or the ignition switch?

Reply to
dkmcp

Definitely ignition switch... if you turn the key back a bit more without turning engine off should confirm that the ignition switch is bad.

Reply to
Tiger

Thanks Tiger. I will try that the next time it causes a problem. Yesterday while working on the car I moved the wiring at the starter solenoid and all seems OK but I won't know for a few days. I will advise. Doug

Reply to
dkmcp

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