That bushing is bad and the starter nose looks to be eating it up and maybe
putting the starter in a bind. As the starter doesn't have a bushing in that
end to support the armature, it relies on the bushing to keep it centered
internally.

Daryl of AA Transaxle
425-788-4070
"On the cutting edge of Old technology"
86 Syncro Westy with a Zetec in the trunk

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
David Beierl
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 9:01 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: 91 Vanagon Manual - slow cranking....

At 12:47 AM 12/8/2010, brett rueff wrote:
>- I thought it might be the bushing - it looked pretty dry and the
>end of the starter shaft is a little scored.  As a test I threw some
>grease in there, reassembled (I can remove/replace starter in about
>5 minutes now!) and thought if there was binding some fresh grease
>might temporarily smooth it out to confirm the theory...alas - no change.
>- Finally I took a known good battery under the car and used jumper
>leads to put 12V directly to starter - its still anemic.
>With the 12V directly on the starter and still very slow crank all I
>can think of is its the starter despite its passing test at the FLAPS....

I think the bushing is in bad shape -- in this picture it looks
thinned out on the left side, and all those chips came from somewhere
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55896090@N04/5242491575/in/photostream/

But hie thee to an automotive electrics shop with your starter and
have them put it on the growler.  That will tell you if there are
shorted turns in the armature, which at this point I rather suspect.

Yours,
David