A7 Starter motor - hair spring?

[Malcolm Parker]

Hi Larry, I am sure your starter motor is fine.   It stopped working last year and I renewed the brushes following which it worked very well.   In answer to your question, the pinion is on a reverse thread so that the inertia throws it back up the shaft when the engine fires up.  The two spring steel clips then hold it in place.  If they loose some of their tension, the pinion will rattle back and forth making a distinctive tinkling sound as it touches the flywheel teeth.   With the starter off the car, move the pinion forward and gently squeeze the two spring clips together with your fingers so they grip the pinion when it is at rest.  That should  cure the problem.
Hope you are enjoying doing the VSCC trials!