Starter?

[dbstrass]

My sons 97 seville sls wont start. It started out with the occasional clicking when you turned the ignition on, but a jump start would work. He has a new battery with proper voltage, so I am assuming its not the battery, this time it wont jump start either. Car wont turn over at all, just a weak single click and you can hear some strange noise coming from where the starter is [ under the intake on the drivers side]. Also for the last couple of months he has had to crank the engine several times to start the car, i am thinking that the starter has been going out for awhile now, not spinning fast enough, and finally died. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, because any possibilities other than changing out this starter would be wonderful.

Thanks for the advice the connections are good as far as i can tell without taking the starter out.

After a day of sitting the car did start and started multiple times throughout the day. But again the same thing happened where it would only click and again after sitting over night it would turn over and start. Its seems to be random when this happens.

Any additional advice would be great.
Thanks

[snshddog]

Check the voltage on the post of the starter, not the wire that connects to it. try to start and read the voltage. If it has proper voltage then you need a starter motor. If the voltage drops alot then it should be a bad wire to the starter or connection is rusty or corroded. If this is the case you may still need a starter after fixing the bad connection.

[MagicRat]

Good advice.
If the connections are good, does the starter draw a lot of electricity without much movement? If so, it sounds likely the starter is "dragging", the bushings are worn and the armature is striking the inside of the starter housing.