Hi Jeff,

Once upon a time I had a ford fairmont that used to do the same
thing.... There was a couple of broken teeth on the flywheel.
Whenever the engine stopped with the starter lined up on the dead
teeth, the engine would NOT turn over, the starter would just spin at
full speed while pushing against nothing.

The temporary fix was to put the vehicle in 2nd or third gear and
push it forward until the engine turned about 10 degrees. By this
point the starter would have found teeth on the flywheel to engage
and the vehicle would start up as usual. The permanent fix is to
replace the flywheel.

Happy trails,

Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato**  LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
1988 Vanagon GL 8-passenger Automatic
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com

On 29-May-05, at 6:23 PM, Jeff Kennedy wrote:

> Hi all,
>  For the past couple of years my starter has worked only about every
> other time. Sometimes it works great first turn, other times it sounds
> like it is spinning but not extended (engaging the flywheel), or maybe
> the gear is extending and not spinning? The sound is a steady loud
> hum,
> but if you keep the key turned it gets real loud, almost like a
> "honk",
> for a bout a second. Sometimes it does every time you turn the key,
> and
> its getting worse.
>
> I installed a rebuilt starter this week, thinking that was the
> problem.
> It worked great for about the first ten starts yet now its doing the
> exact same thing. So I guess that means I'll be replacing the wiring,
> unless anyone has wisdom that suggests otherwise
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff Kennedy
> '84 Westy with a Tiico
>
>
>