starter issue repeating
 

I have a 1988 3.2 cabriolet. I replaced the starter about two month ago with Bosch original starter. the bendix in the original starter was intermittently spinning but not pushing out to engage the ring gear, then it didn't retract...only a couple small scars on ring gear. Now the new starter has began to intermittently not push the bendix out. only did this twice....so far. I'm going to replace again, but what could be causing this?? grounds are super clean. I was going to caulk it up to a defective second starter.

Was this a rebuilt Bosch starter or confirmed NEW starter? I had many problems on a rebuilt Bosch starter and finally tossed it to replace it with a Hi Torque starter from our host. Problem solved. in my case there was a pressed in "ring" that was loose on the starter and it would jam the pinion on rare occasion that became less rare over time.

thanks for the reply. It is a rebuilt Bosch. I'll have to look into Hi torque. any chance you have a part number to lead me in the right direction? thanks again.

I will add that the HiTorque starter I just put in seems like a good replacement on my 1985. Kinda weird though with the different sound after hearing the Bosch for some 30+ years, but the car starts! I got mine through Amazon for about $160. P/N IMI 101N.

I fought with factory original Bosch starters for several years. My biggest issue was heat soak lockup. I drive my car on long road trips. After 7 to 10 hours the starter would just not rotate until it cooled off. I had it rebuilt and the guy said it would work now. It still had the issue. I bought a brand new one, same issue. Nothing like sitting in front of a hotel after checking in, and having to get a push start to get out of the way.

I put on the high torque unit almost 10 years ago. No more issues. The car starts in 16 degree weather, or in 100+ temps after driving for 12 hours. It takes a while to get used to the new sound of the starter, but when you heard silence in the past, the sound of the starter is a wonderful sound.

could be weak power on the yellow wire to the starter to pull in the solenoid.
if you have a car alarm start there. usually bad connections because the idiots cut the wire for the alarm.
i used a test light to fix brothers car.
compare the brightness of the battery cable on starter to the start signal when cranking.

You beat me to it :)
Had the same issue on a car I was working on years ago, the car would start when cold, but after a few starts just a click, found that the terminal on the solenoid was corroded, which caused a resistance that increased as the terminal heated up, which could also be the case if there is a join in the wire etc.

Sorry I don't have the number but I don't recall it being hard to find on the PP site. One issue I ran into was getting the old starter wire to the new Hi Torque unit. I had to get a short extension which solved the problem...until the extension began to randomly lose continuity. New extension has apparently solved the problem for good...

thanks for all the info...Pelicans. Its really a random thing. has done it with car hot and cold. the bendix will spin, just not push out to engage the ring gear. I'm planning on going over the car this weekend anyway, I'll do some voltage tests. thanks again.