merc starter questions

[beradtke]

Dose anybody know what a 85 merc 175hp bruhes original lenght is when they are new. mine are only7/16 in long. also the date code on the starter is 4/12/79 i take this is not the original starter?

[Fr. Frank]

Probably not the original starter. I went to get my starter on my '91 Merc 150 rebuilt, and ended up exchanging it for an already rebuilt one off the shelf. It had a 1994 date on it, but worked just fine.

I can't help you with the brush length.

[beradtke]

ok father thanks for the advice i will take it down to my local electrical repair shop and see what he can do.
i found the brushes on line but it dose not state what the lenght of them are sooo

[Greene]

Are you sure it is the brushes? What makes you think so? Are they corroded?

9 times out of 10 a starter fails because the armature is grounded to the commutator.

[beradtke]

when i compress the brushes inside the housing where the springs are the dont poke out that far when i release them. i have not run a ohm test thought the armatur to the communtater to see if i have a short there.