after 210,000 trusty miles, my 855M finally hicupped. I pulled into the market this morning, everything just fine, and when I went to start the car back up, no click, no starter. Battery was fine, jump start did nothing. I suspect it is either the ignition switch or the solenoid. Luckily I have a manual tranny, so I push started the car to get it back home.

Since I did not have the funky 6-7" long thin torx driver to get the ignition switch cover off to check it, I figured I'd take the starter out and bench test it. With so many miles, I figured it'd probably be up for a brush change at the least, and likely the solenoid is crap, too. I have just removed all the bolts and connections to the starter. It is free of the bell housing, but I am not able to figure out how to remove it from under the intake manifold as there is so little room.

Has anyone removed one of these yet. Did you pull the cooling fan out? Any tips or hints? I needed a break from leaning over the car, so I figured this was a good way to spend the time!

Thanks for any input.

Claude