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My starter whirls but does not engage. The solenoid arm can be manually pushed and it will push out to engage... but not on it's own. Is it the solenoid or the starter that is the trouble. Can I take the solenoid off and clean it?
It sounds like the solenoid if the starter motor turns, but does not engage. As for if you can open up the solenoid and clean it, I do not know that, sorry.
I had an intermittent no-engage problem on my '59 DeSoto starter and it ended up being that the starter drive gear was sticking from old age/grease. It had to be disassembled, cleaned/changed, and reassembled, which I had the rebuilder do.
