Hello,

Joined today because of this issue.

I had an intermittent issue with my starter a while back; maybe once every 10-15 starts the starter would not engage the flywheel and just spin/whine; I would typically run the gear shifter through a couple of changes, jostle the car a little and it would work again. After creeping this forum for a while, I decided to change out the starter. Bought a re-man starter from large parts chain and installed it (reinstalled the shims that were with the original starter). It worked for about three days and then stopped. I jumpered the clutch safety switch with no effect. Then, I removed it, bench tested it and nothing. Took some of the cover plates off the starter and the solenoid wire had broken from the terminal; replaced that starter with a warranty replacement.

I installed the second starter last night, with the original shims again, and when I tried to start the car the following happened:
1. The starter did not engage the flywheel.
2. The starter "whined" and when I turned the ignition off, the starter continued to whine. I had to quickly hop out of the car to disconnect the battery negative to get it to stop.
3. Reattached the battery negative and measured 12V from the starter post to ground and 0V from the solenoid terminal to ground.
4. Removed the starter and bench tested it. When 12V is applied to the solenoid terminal the starter works as expected, i.e. throws out the pinion gear and spins.

So, I am trying to figure out the next step without having to tow the car to a mechanic and have them tell me it's something simple like the starter is incorrectly shimmed. I do have the FSM (however, I left it at home and cannot reference it until tomorrow).

I would really appreciate some advice on what my next trouble shooting step should be. I have returned the clutch safety switch back to original configuration.

Edit: It was a shimming issue and I had to shim the starter down an additional .125" to work properly. The car is working now, so I am happy about that.