[rainman]

So I have two starter motors doing the same thing
A second hand oem unit~ some 15 years old and a Chinese replacement of unknown age- came with xj when bought.
They are both displaying same symptoms.
Both test fine on the bench. i.e. spin and throw forward.

Symptoms:
Turn the key and just get a clunk (as if battery was flat) turn key again and it fires up fine, nice and quick =plenty of juice in the battery.
when i get the clunk the volts drop to like 9.5 something low like that.

its almost as if the starter has not got enough grunt to spin the engine.

the oem starter is 50/50 on weather it will clunk or start.
the chinease copy was 50/50 then mostly not, then not at all.
Again goes fine on the bench.

Can the solenoid contacts degrade to the point where it will spin on the bench but not pass enough current to spin the engine?
I've had toyota solenoids appart before but these mitisi units look to be a sealed unit

Any input appreciated.