tried to start car... acted like dead battery.. now fine

[Korndogg]

hey all
quick question..
i don't think i'm going to be able to describe this well enough to get some real help on this.. but worth a try, right?
i have a 96 TSI and friday i went to start my car to go to work.. and nothing really happened.. at first i thought it might be a dead battery somehow.. but i checked and the battery and alternator are both fine.. but anyway, all that happened was a little.. "electric whine" came from under the hood.. i don't know how to describe it.. but it was just a little electric noise and nothing mechanical happened... it finally started right up after trying it enough times... then when i got to work, i shut off the car, and just to test, i tried to start it again.. it made the electric noise again, but this time i just heald the key and it started to turn over (slowly at first) but then it started and was fine... and this hasn't happened again since..
i don't know if anyone has any suggestions on what to test... i'm thinking something goofy with the starter somehow.. or maybe coil pack, but wouldn't there be signs of problems while driving if it was the coil pack?
anyway, thanks a lot for looking

 

[Defiant]

Going on your flowery and intricate description, my guess is a balky Bendix. The gear on the starter isn't being thrown into the ring gear. New starter time.

 

[PogiTSI]

I would also say a starter. The whine is the bendix not being thrown out. The death of starter is usualy slow, Like being hard to start, not starting but starting after a couple trys. If this happens agian, bang the starter with like a hammer, and it might help, then drive to a parts store and buy a new one.

 

[Korndogg]

Originally posted by Defiant
Going on your flowery and intricate description, my guess is a balky Bendix. The gear on the starter isn't being thrown into the ring gear. New starter time.

..., you always have a way with words defiant

thanks for the help guys