Coincidence?! I just got back to the house moments ago, giving my son's e34 535i a tow. The bendix quit retracting after starting last week and let the pinion gear randomly drag lightly on the ring gear, so I took the starter out, found the inside planet gear housing business had grenaded, and installed a rebuilt starter (Checkers, bad idea!). The rebuilt was fine while it lasted -- all of 5 days. Then the solenoid took a dump this afternoon. Gonna give Checkers their junk starter back & give BMA a call in the morning for a genuine Bosch remanufactured one, you get what you pay for.