OMP and Electrical Questions
 

OMP: I recently read a survey that states that the OMP has periodic failures and is the cause of many engines going bad. Just wondering if anyone had any intelligent feedback they could share on this subject.
Electrics: My starter engages when I turn the key, however, the solenoid does not fully push the bendix gear out to mesh with the flywheel gear, thus, I hear the motor spinning really fast. It occasionally grinds, but more often, the bendix gear doesn't get that far out. I've got a new solenoid installed and the starter is about 4-5 years old. The starter was dismantled, cleaned and greased and then re-assembled. I plan to replace the battery cables soon. My question is - how can I clean/make fusible links so that electricity is conducted better? Also, how high is the failure rate of the signal wire that runs from the ignition switch to the solenoid? Thank you.

Can't really speak to the OMP, but the starter:

My favorite 'fix' for the fusible links is to replace them with a fusebox from another car. I grabbed a fuse box and some fuses from a 2nd gen RX-7 in the junkyard, and wired it all up with some 8 guage wire and some various connectors. Really simple, and it cost me like $25 overall. I feel much better not relying on those fusible links now, and it easily handles my TII alternator.

I had the exact same problem you do with my starter, and it was only like a 1 year old 'reman' unit from a local parts store. It got worse and worse until there were times that it would take 15 minutes to get the car started. I thought it was electrical, so I did the fusebox mod, the cables, and rewired a bunch of stuff. Nothing really helped. Finally the relay in the solenoid stuck in the "ON" position and the starter motor rand for about 15 minutes until I could get the battery cables cut. There was much smoke. :) I went to a DIFFERENT parts store and bought a starter (bendix I think) and cables... it sounded better on the first crank than the other one ever had, and works perfectly to this day.

Moral of the story...don't buy crappy parts. Go ahead and replace the cables, but be ready to pick up a new starter.

Armen