Starter free-spinning 1982 240D
 

My 1982 240D (261,XXX miles) was running at idle today for an hour while I was letting her warm up for an oil change...... when I finished the oil change I tried to start her and she started to turn over but before she caught, the starter began free-spinning. I tried several more times, sometimes it went straight to free-spin, other times it would turn over for a second before free-spin, but not long enough to catch. The starter's age is unknown........
By the symptoms, I'm not to worried about the ring gear. Might be the solenoid, but the fact it turns over even a little before free-spinning and the fact the juice is making it to the starter seem to lessen the odds.
I did a search of starter woes here and see people have replaced the bendix. Where can I get parts for it?
I'm pretty sure I'm thinking the problem through correctly, but if not, please give me a sanity check........ I've rebuilt starters before, but it was usually a stop-gap. I ended up having to replace them weeks or months later. Before I had kids I seemed to have free-time to fool with jobs twice like that. Should I just buy a whole new starter or is it worth it to try to fix this one? Opinions?

Your diagnosis is probablly corect on the Bendix and if you have time to mess with it and the tools then get a new bendix and install it but a Fact rebuilt from Bosch does come with a one year Tow ...

Does any one know.....
 

Where can I buy the bendix/pinion gear?

Phil

Buy a whole new starter. My car did the same when I bought it, hence its cheapness.

Where I got mine loacally set me back $135. Bosch. I'll never have to worry about a starter again. (Uhm... I dont plan on keeping the car long enough to burn through another starter!)

I'll be darned......
 

I bought a new (REMAN) Bosch at Pep Boys for $125 + $35 core....... When I got home I decided to give the 240D a shot before I pulled all the tools out to begin the operation...... Darn if it didn't start on the first stroke. I drove it around all afternoon running errands and the starter didn't even hint at free-spinning.
When it failed last night, the car had been sitting at idle for an hour (maybe more), shut off then I tried to restart it in about a minute. Anyone seen a heat related failure? Most of the threads I've read talk about the problem happening more often when the engine is cold.
I suppose I should go ahead and replace the starter...... Murphy says it'll fail the next time I drive her further than AAA will tow me.