(ot) burning through passat starters!

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

Have you replaced the bronze starter bushing where the starter shaft goes
in to the tranny case? These things are only $1 a piece but they're a son
of a bitch to replace (not so hard to get out as to get in without
damaging them on the way in). When they wear out they will allow the
starter shaft to move around within the housing.. so the gear can freely
engage or disengage with the flywheel or the armature can jam, making the
starter draw huge amounts of current and do nothing. A brand new starter
has a new rear bushing (inside the starter) that may be enough to support
the starter shaft for a while until the rear bushing breaks or wears
significantly from the lack of a bushing in the tranny case, at which
point the above symptoms will appear.

My advice is to pull the starter and stick your eyeball up next to that
hole and see if the bushing is even there any more.. from the frequency of
your starter failures it sounds like the starter shaft is barely supported
if at all in order to wear the rear bushing so quickly to the point of
starter jamming.

HTH,

-Toby

On Wed, 11 Dec 2002, The Hitman wrote:

>   i've gone through 3 starters in the last month and a half in my '91 2l 16v
> passat. i can't seem to figure out what the problem is. when the starters
> are first installed they work perfectly for about a week or so, then they
> will start to grind a lil' almost like they are not fully engaging the
> flywheel. after a few days of this the starter will just spin when you turn
> the key the first few times before it catches and starts the car. then after
> a day or two of this they will simply cease to function at all. the car
> starts easy when the starters will engage, there is no apparent damage to
> the flywheel (chipped or missing teeth), and the starters are aligned right.
> so it must be something electrical right? but what? all connections appear
> right and good. any ideas? tia
>    hit
>
>
>
> So Sayeth The Hitman
> '88 "stripe" 16v scirocco
> '91 passat gl "the green hell"
> <http://www.techography.net:82/brettsgarage>
>