Hi All,
Some of you may remember that my starter began to operate intermittently. I checked it 'repeatedly' myself, took it repeated to a Car part place where they tested it on a maching (presumably measuring the current draw) the starter worked flawless.... I took it apart to make sure the Bendix was good etc reasembled and tested it again.... worked great on the bench. Put it into the car and it would fail 9 times out of 10, that is the motor would sping (solenoid OK) but would simply not engage the flywheel.... Roland suggested that the solenoid may not have enough 'punch' based on that I thought I'll buy a new starter and try it... sure enough, the new starter works flawlessly, ie it engages the flywheel every time.... so what the heck is going on? My guess is that Roland was probably on to something and the missing 'punch' was probably a worn 'fork' that pushes out the Bendix. The fork is plastic and pivots on little 'studs' on either side of housing...
I guess the old adage is correct... if there is a problem with the starter simply replace it... not worth fiddling with it for hours.
cheers, guenter