bought a brand new starter today. installed it. it cranked the motor over then when the engine fired the starter kept spinning. i shut the engine off and unless the battery cables are disconnected the starter just spins even with the key off. sounds like a vaccum cleaner

i tried two sepperate ignition switches with no luck

 

Sounds like the pinion gear is hungup on the ring gear. Maybe the starter is cocked or the flange is deformed. I suppose the pinion could go too deeply into the ring.

How many teeth on your pinion gear? The auto transmission has a different number from the manual (IIRC one is 11 and other 13), and if the pinion and ring are mismatched it could hang.

Also, was that a new starter or a rebuild? I've had troubles with rebuilds on other cars, and I think the rebuilt starter on my 85GSL is slightly defective (doesn't always engage).

 

aftermarket starters suck! mazda is priced about the same and they actually make a rebuild that works for more than a week

 

its a reman starter. when the stater does its BS it just sounds like the starter motor is spinning, it isnt grinding or making contact with the flywheel. i dont hear the solenoid click when the power is applied.

like i said in my first post, it actually stated the car but sounded like the ear disengaged but the starter still spun until i disconnected the battery

 

Sounds like a bad Bendix. You'll prolly have to pull the starter and walk it back to the autostore.

But first, you might try sticking an 18" extension down from the top on the driverside and tap it with a hammer to see if something is hungup that can be dislodged.

 

im going to give the starter a tap see if that loosens it up. my FC starter hung up once and after a few taps with a hammer it worked fine.

 

No response from jaidedeye, he must have tapped the solenoid and got it working. But he'll probably be back because that only works a few times before it's really broken.

 

Heh, Bendix is actually a brand name.

Remans suck. Just keep exchanging your starter until you get a good one.

 

update..

problem fixed. the power wire from the battery was touching the un-shielded copper wire on the other side of the solenoid simulating a starting signal. the wires were barely touching. i adjusted the battery cable and the starter works great.

thanks for the advice a help guys, i guess i can chalk this one up as an "ah ****"

 

We've all made mistakes like that.

 

I arced an alternator recently. It was kinda funny.