Quote Originally Posted by big_fletch View Post
That is sometimes true, however majority of the time the starter is out of brushes.. If you had a test light or set of multimeters on the output of the solenoid you would most likely find there is power coming out, however because the brushes are worn in the starter there would be a bad connection to the armature. Therefore the solenoid would click out however starter would not spin.. Giving the starter a tap moves the brushes ever so slightly and sometimes creates a good enough connection to spin the armature..
The best option is to remove the starter and take to a auto-sparky to be diss-assembled and tested for the best course of action

Fletcha
agreed, however if the solenoid is by-passed, without a tap (gotta love percussive maintenance :-) ) and the starter spins, to me that points to the solenoid.

By-passing the solenoid can somtimes be done with a big screwdriver you don't care too much about as sparks will be produced - in by passing, looking to momentarily connect the fat positive wire that goes into the solenoid to the fat wire that leaves the solenoid and goes to the starter. Either way, some time on the spanners will be required down the track. What I was looking for was a possible solution that would get Ga200 back on the road over Easter :-) Of course, if it is a manual, use the family starter motor and or convenient hills :-)