On Sat, 8 Jul 2006 20:16:52 -0700, you wrote:

>--snip--
>As it turns out, the "rebuilt" starter we'd most recently had
>installed turned out to be a half@ssed partially rebuilt starter (the
>stuff that looked 'old' got rebuilt and the rest was just left).  S
>says he's astonished we even made it home.  And we've been having
>words with our mechanic to pass on to the place where he got that
>allegedly-rebuilt starter!!!
>--snip--
>
>Most 'rebuilt' starters you can get at retail are 'half-assed partially
>rebuilt starters'. It's something of a crap shoot, and I haven't had any
>better luck with a Napa rebuilt than an Autozone rebuilt. For all I know
>they come from the same 'rebuilder'.
>Many years ago there was a shop where I lived at the time where you could
>get your starter rebuilt- really rebuilt, by people that knew what they were
>doing. I haven't seen one of those shops in ages and I gather they're a
>dying breed or sorts. It might be worth looking online- I've found 'real
>alternator rebuilders that way but I haven't looked for a starter rebuilder
>(seems like one shop would do both, like the old guys I used to go to). It'd
>be worth the extra cost and hassle to know the job was done correctly, but
>you might be able to get a new one at retail for the same price.
>
>Basically you can get a new one, get lucky and get a 'good' rebuild, keep
>one for a spare or build up the 'chest, arms and legs', as the good Dr. put
>it.

It now seems there are three different animals one can get.
Approximately ...

1)  A refurbished starter - the obviously broken bits are fixed and
the rest is left as is.

2)  A rebuilt starter - the obviously broken bits are fixed and the
old bits are fixed/replaced.

3)  A re-manufactured starter - the outermost case is retained and the
interior bits are all new.

We had paid for a rebuilt starter, but had instead got a refurbished
starter. 

We stilll think the onus is on our repair-guy to put that right.  But
as it happens, Simon paid something for the starter repair.  The
repair-guy gratis gave us an improvement in the gear linkage that
means we can now reliably get it into first gear (which had been a
non-trivial problem for Simon on the way home from Erendira.

In sum, we're happy.  Most especially because we have reservations for
Silver Lake Campground (Inyo County) for next weekend.  :-)

B&S
'87 Westy 'Esmerelda Blanc'
SoCal