Oil soaked starter.

After having my starter completely stop working on me again this month(Haven't changed it since last march), I finally went and bought a 2-ton floor jack and 2 matching jack stands and got it up high enough to squeeze under it and take the starter off. Lo and behold, it was very very greasy and covered in oil. Talked to a mechanic that I know, and he says it's probably the valve cover gasket leaking oil. I'll get to fixing that sometime shortly. I cleaned up the starter a bit, took the solenoid apart, and there were dead spots in it, so i turned the little washers, put it back together, reinstalled the sumbitch, and it starts up really fast now, instead of taking it's dear sweet time to start, or just plain not starting at all. Once i get the valve cover gasket replaced, I'll be a happy camper.

Well, that fix worked allright for a few days, but really, you can't overcome the crappy rebuilds put out by the chain stores like NAPA and Parts Plus. It ended up not working. I ordered a new starter from a shop up in SLC that my dad says does AMAZING work, and that they rebuild these things more thoroughly than NAPA or Parts Plus ever will. I ordered it Thursday, it arrived Monday, I installed it, and it starts up MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better than it EVER has in the time i've owned the car. I hope now that I can rely on this car for the next year until I sell it.

+1 on the crappy rebuilds... same goes for window motors

Meh, that's when you rebuild them yourself. :)

None the less, if oil is getting into the starter & solenoid, doesn't matter how well it's rebuilt as life expectancy will be reduced :2cents:

Meh, that's when you rebuild them yourself. :)

None the less, if oil is getting into the starter & solenoid, doesn't matter how well it's rebuilt as life expectancy will be reduced :2cents:
Thats the truth. All that oil will attrack dirt and hold onto it making a nice sandpaper paste.

I got down into it and had a mechanic friend go over it as well, and we figured there isn't near enough oil leaking on it to cause it to fail. The oil that was down there was pretty old, and consumption has been on the very low side, so i don't think there is any cause for concern. I blame crappy rebuilds 100%