<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: attex759

Hey eggenz7, you were right on the money man!! I took my starter apart and there was rust and water everywhere. I'm surprised that it started for as long as it did. I have bought a new starter and will install it tomorrow. Thanks for your insight.</end quote></div>

Could you just not clean it and lube the brushes to get them sliding again? Mine quit because the brushes got rusty and stuck, I clean them up and wd40 them and got it working again, that was two years ago.

I though it was odd that water can get into a sealed starter also.

 

Hi TLC, I did clean and lubricate the starter that I removed but since the brushes were very worn I decided to install the new starter that I bought.

I know now how water entered the starter. I am not sure about OEM starters but the starter that I removed was aftermarket, the same as the aftermarket one that I have installed. On both units there is a threaded hole on the flywheel end of the starter. This hole is though the case right where the gear on the top of the armature mates with the pinion gear. This threaded hole is for a grease fitting to lubricate the pinion gears.

The starter I removed had nothing threaded into this hole thereby allowing water to enter the starter as soon as the 4X4 went though deep water. There was no way for water to later drain out so it was trapped inside. Whoever installed tha last starter didn't seem to understand that.

Well at least that's my guess.