so about a week ago my original starter (a nippondenso with the subaru factory logo stamped on it) finally died, the actual housing cracked where it bolted to the bellhousing and it started to grind on starting.

 

i replaced it with the duralast POS that autozone offers, only to find that about 50% of the time, the new starter grinds and doesn't turn the flywheel at all. usually when this happens, the second try works fine.

 

so i took it back and got a different one, only to find out that it just spins and spins, never even contacting the flywheel at all.

 

i put the previous one back in, and it still does the 50% grind 50% start thing.

 

is there a chance that BOTH new starters are bad?

 

the flywheel is fine, and the mounting surfaces are clean and solid.

 

any ideas?

 

thanks!

 

casey

oh, by the way, my car is a 1986 gl wagon 4wd 1.8 with a manual trans

More than likely yes. One of my friends had similar issues with duralast starters for his dodge. He just kept changing them once a year.

 

My advice to you is to go to a junkyard and yank a starter out of a EA81/2 car (same starter). Then when you get home pull it apart and replace the contacts inside it with new ones (few bucks from auto parts store). Then reassemble and you should be good to go. These starters are so simple its a wonder that autozone cant find anyone to build them to last. Duralast my a$$

I've had it happen, just take it back and have them bench test it and the old one too, that might tell you the story better if there is somthing wrong with your car or the Starters.............

 

Jeff