My starter kicks out before the car starts how can i tell if its the starter or celinoid

on top of starter

Could be the starter relay.Did you put the shims back in with starter?1985 Chevrolet Corvette 5.7L FI OHV 8cyl.The Starter Relay is located: Front seating area, passenger side, under dash, mounted behind kick panel
Application:
Starter (interrupt)Here's what the relay look's like Sonja.

tap the starter if that works you need a new starter. if you hear a clicking noise when you try to crank it then you need a new celinoid which is up by your battery or more commonly on top of our starter.

eaither you have a bad starter, bad celinoid, or a bad connection from the positive to your starter or ground to your block. if you try and turn it overand it just clicks you have a bad celinoid. if you tap the casing of the starter and the engine turns over then you need to buy a new starter or rebuild the one you have.

could possibly be the starter or the solenoid ,you should replace the whole starter or have yours rebuilt

your starter could be bad, check it to see if it's drawing fire by turning your headlights on and have someone look to see if they go dim when you try to start it. if they go dim that means your starter is drawing fire, so starter most likely bad. or celinoid on starter is bad. either way you'll need to pull the starter. hope this helps you!

That sounds like the ignition in the column. Buy a new ignition and take the column apart. take out the old one and replace with the new. It's a pretty easy job if you're decenty inclined.. let me know of other ??. Or find the hot before the switch and the lead to the starter in the column and put in a push button start. Though then anyone can start the car without a key

The starter is under the intake manifold. Replace the complete starter. If you go through that much labor, it would be foolish to just replace the solenoid on a 8 year old starter.

Have you chk. the starter switch on the steering colume under dash? Or is starter drive kicking in but not engaging teeth in flexplate? If its not engaging teeth on flexplate starter needs to be shimmed, or if its missing the teeth altogether on flexplate or bearly catching the teeth, top of starter nose wear it bolts up needs to be filed down to engage the teeth on flexplate.