1980 Mercedes Benz Starter

Hi there,

Your starter motor is an electric motor with a Bendix drive attached, this drive is a special gear assembly that when turning, engages the teeth on the fly wheel /drive plate of your engine this in turn starts the engine turning over, with the engine "cranking over" other components are activated to initiate the starting of the engine, when the engine is running, and the key is released back to run, the starter stops turning, the drive Bendix disengages the ring gear and is not operated again until the key is turned to start.

I hope that this helps

Mark (mhpautos) :D