about 1 in 30 times my starter will do the grind (ouch!!) thing....I've heard that chips on the flywheel gear ring, low battery power, or sticky solenoid could cause this. Battery juice is fine, can I do anything about the possible sticky solenoid....like lube it?

I had a similar problem that got worse, until about 29 times out of 30 tries it would make this horrendous screeching/grinding noise. That turned out to be the starter pinion gear actually removing the teeth on the ring gear in the most favored stopping position for the crank. The engine compression stops the engine in a couple of "favored" spots and these spots get worn pretty heavily by the starter. In the end I had the ring gear replaced and because the car had nearly 200k miles on it, I had the clutch replaced since the parts were all off the car.

I have heard of guys on the forum solving this problem with the starter though, so I guess there is something in the starter that can screech and scream too.

Good luck, Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)