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1970 W200 318
Today my starter started to grind a little when first trying to start the truck. The truck starts fine and the grinding only lasts for a second or two before sounding normal. This is the original 1970 starter in the truck. I suspect the bendix may be going bad maybe??
My question is: Can these OEM starters be rebuilt or am I stuck with buying a new Chinese one?
Thanks

Foreign made or foreign remanufactured that is the question. Even if the starter were made in America today the parts used in production came from somewhere else. Welcome to the global economy. Sorry dude.

John, get one of those new style mini starters. Hi torque, easy to install and they have a good track record.
To your question, yes they can be rebuilt. But u have to find a rebuilder.....

Thanks Terry for the info. I'm going to look for a local shop to see if they can rebuild mine. I also thought about taking it apart and see if it's something simple like no grease on the shaft/gears. If not, then I'll go with the mini high torque unit.

So I just put a mini starter in from AutoZone in my 69 318 4 sp. It also just started that grind thing on first crank for less than a second. Are you saying that is a bad starter? I assumed it was a mishmash of new starter to old flywheel, my original starter never made that noise.

stumblinhorse wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:25 pm

So I just put a mini starter in from AutoZone in my 69 318 4 sp. It also just started that grind thing on first crank for less than a second. Are you saying that is a bad starter? I assumed it was a mishmash of new starter to old flywheel, my original starter never made that noise.

I'm not sure if my starter is bad. Could be a weak spring on the bendix that doesn't allow the drive to fully engage or retract from the flywheel or maybe just a lack of lube on the shaft/gears. I don't know much about the mini starters but maybe Terry or someone else will chime in. If you just bought the mini from AutoZone and its grinding...return it for a new one maybe?

its not the grinding sound of a bad ring gear is it?

I think when I do my headers in a couple weeks I will exchange it and see what happens. It was a reman, so maybe it is not a good one. Didn't grind at first but now grinds on first start up of the cold engine every time. The engine has been apart for about a month with the heads at the machine shop.

Pull starter out inspect the ring gear see if its chewed up then go from there