nater

so the other day it rained really bad and my starter had trouble as is would spin freely on the first couple trys then be fine for a while then some trouble then fine and so on but always eventually started. well i had the car out running around town and the road was flooded over. i knew it wasnt deep enough to do any harm and due to traffic i could not back up so i dropped the car into manual first and plowed through it. when i came out the other side i could hear this really bad knocking and rubbing noise. at first i thought i got water in the motor and really messed something up. but later discovered that the plastic shroud around the tc had been broken loose, not sure for how long, and the water had forced it against the flywheel/flex plate and was being mutilated by the teeth. so i removed it today and it was pretty chewed up. but i went to start the car and the starter just spins. the gear is good and so is the flywheel. after some trial and error the gear in the starter is not coming out to make contact with the flywheel. i did some other checks the gear is only turn able by hand one way and i can not get the gear to move out by hand,or by force with a screw driver. could it just be chunks of the plastic shroud blocking/sticking the gear in place? or is it just time for a rebuild/replace? rebuild being my first choice. or is it some random wiring glitch?

also while working i found that the wire around the fusible link is starting to fray and come lose what is the best way to fix this? its still making contact right now and its not the fusible link to the starter it goes to the alternator and im guessing the orange line for the computer.

ps i am also at college right now and car is my daily driver, so im limited on money, and lots of parts store runs at least untill i can get a job in town.

paulo57509

There is something broken/bent in the starter. My guess is the fork that kicks out the starter drive (gear) is FUBAR.

The path of least resistance is to get a new/rebuilt starter.

nater

ok so i tore into it today and it seams to be that the solenoid is not kicking the gear out i tore the solenoid apart and it seams like it could be bad.
while the path of least resistance would be to buy a whole new starter i cant afford that until i start getting pay checks but if it is rebuild able then that may be more financially possible.

nater

ok so i did some checks with my multimeeter. i get continuity from the s terminal to the casing and also from the s terminal to the starter terminal. no continuity from s to battery and no continuity from battery to starter with no power applied. i did not test the r terminal continuity to anything and nothing was continuity tested with power applied.
it doesnt seem right that there is continuity from s to starter terminals but with the starter disassembled both terminals go to the electromagnet part of the solenoid. is this right?