Here is the email I wrote to David, he is in China Hopefully this does not alarm him to much but it is all good now. I don't know what is wrong with the old starter but it is not going back in.



Ok here is the story. I have been having problems with the starter on the car. It would grind some and then when the car fired it would stay engaged and make a horrible sound. Shut the car off. Do it again and it would happen most ofthe time, about 90% of the starts. I was able to keep it running by momentarly shutting it off, this disengaged the starter then turning it to the on position. This would work because it was not off long enough to stall the motor. Off you go then. Only to do it again on startup. This went on for some time and I tried shimming every which way I could, did not solve the problem. Yesterday I went out to try it and it started OK twice so I figured I'm good to go to alignment. Fire it up this morning and it acts up again. No problem I drive over and I will start it for them and tell them the problem. Give them the keys and say I want to start it. The guy must not have told the tech and he went out the side door and started it. I hear a loud screaching I know exactly what it is and sprint towards the door. By the time I'm out the door it had disengaged and was running. OK I'll talk to the tech later. An hour later the owner comes to me and says there is a problem with the starter. I say I know and proceed to tell him about it. He says there was a fire. I immediatly think the whole harness is melted. He says we can look at it when the tech is done the alignment. OK nothing I can do now. So for the next 1/2 hour I am thinking about what to do and what exactly happened. New harness maybe, how do I get it home because the harness is melted oh well I'll fix it somehow. He comes out and explains the alignment, no problem went well. I go out and look at the starter. Not bad at all. It just fried the wire between the selenoid and the starter motor. Still can't start it just clicks but all the harnesses are untouched. Phew. A big phew there. Starters are easy to fix. So we push the car off the alignment rack and I bump start it and it fires right up. Purring like a kitten and no fires. Keep it running and pay the bill, discounted for being a forum member and drive home hoping I don't stall it. Make it home and park it. I had a noon appointment with my buddy so I fly out of the house and go meet him. Now thinking what to do I had to change out my GM starter from my car because it won't fit the T56. Go get that starter and install it. No shims no nothing. Rig up the wiring just to see if it works. Cranks over nice and quiet no grinding no sticking fires right up. That was just a quick turn over so I have to make it more permanent. Oh the other thing is mine is on the lift and yours is on the ground. I'm working with a jack on my back the old fashion way, Oh the Horror! Now that it starts I can move yours out and mine does run now and swap around so I can get at the wiring and make it right I don't know what was wrong with the other starter but the teeth don't look good and the wire is fried. I'll leave mine in there for now as I don't need it but so far it looks like it will work OK.

 

I have learned not to question you Gordon. You work on my car as though it was your own. I just appreciate you taking your time to get the bugs worked out of my car. Can't wait to get home and take it out for my first cruise. Been too long. No alarm here, just appreciation, from the other side of the world.
David

 

I'm not sure why it shorted out but I think there was something wrong from the start with this one. It just never sounded right and then the sticking bendix was the real problem. As it sits on my bench I have not taken it apart but I shook it a little and there is some junk rattling around and a few pieces of burnt plastic fell out of it. I may take it apart just to see what got cooked. My starter from my car is working great. Spins it over faster and is much quieter.

 

If you are trying to get technical support, shouldn't David be in India?