What might cause this? I put 2 starters in my 81 camaro while I had it. The guy I sold it to is putting another starter in it now. It has a new battery and cables. The alternator is new. I replaced all the wiring in it too. Could anything cause this besides a short somewhere?

 

Depends on what is burning out of the starter.
Well?
If your loosing the (ughh cant think today)
solenoid that its just bad luck. If your loosing the ability to lock on the flex plate than the armature is being torn up by the flywheel or flex plate. Do you get a grinding noise when the starter goes bad?
It just depends.

SSC

 

Do you have a heat shield,it makes a difference?

 

The first one made the grinding noise. The second one would not quit after the car was running. I had to start the car and then disconnect the battery so it would stop. I don't know what the last one did. He told me the car won't start, and he's replacing the starter. There is a metal tube over the wires, but the starter itself is not covered.

 

I've gone through many many starters. Don't go buying them pep-boys remanufactored crap. I went through 4 of them in 2 weeks before I bought a new one and it hasn't died yet. One time my starter came on while I was doing about 50mph. That was the worst noise ever. It came on because the ground and power wires touched. Stupid me was in a hurry and didnt tighten them down good enough. Tell him to get a good starter and buy some of that heat-wrap stuff to protect it from being overheated by exhaust.

 

Sounds like the first 2 were having problems with enguagig/disenguaging. Most likely the flywheel is as toothless as a hockey player but who can say for sure. Have the current owner drop the inspection cover and peek at the flywheel.
Other than that the mentioned rebuilt starters from any parts store are junk. Most remans just replace the solenoid and clean the starter up good then back on the shelf.
SSC

 

From my experience working in a parts store it all depends on which warranty starter you get as well as manufacturer. A 1-2 yr warrantied starter or any other reman part for that matter all they do is replace the worn out part and if everything falls within tollerance they leave it alone, and from what Ive see the tolerances are pretty bad so you may have a starter or alt with brushes that are going to go out in a few months etc etc. but with a life time warr starter they are supposed to (and I stress supposed to) replace everything that can be replaced so basically other than the windings and the case its all brand new. But some reman co's are worse than others Id stick with a good AC delco reman starter I have one on mine and no heat shield and headers and drove it through the cali desert last summer and never had any starter problems with it yet.

 

You guys caught me. The starters all came from Advanced Auto Parts, but the second one was free thanks to the warrenty.

The flywheel looks fine. When I see him I'll suggest some Heat sheilding of some sort. Hopefully this one will last.