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My 63 Austin 850 is relaxing inside for the winter months here in the USA
This year i chose to start it( every 4-6 weeks for a brief period to move the coolant/engine oil about
On the initial crank to start ( fuel pump running a few seconds ,pedal pushed several times then full choke
The engine will crank trying to start(starter switch on the floor) then the (new)starter will disengage
It will do this about 6-7 times before starting
This has never happened prior

My cooper s has started to do this since I changed the starter motor. Put the old one back and its never happened since. Look at the two starters side by side and check that the dogs and gears are the same. R

A new starter was installed before i purchased the car
The issue seems to be only when not driven/started often.......
It seems like the starter times out due to cranking so much

This often happens when the engine fires on one or two cylinders, so speeds up enough to disengage the bendix, but then doesn't fully fire into life and run. I'd be giving the ignition system a service and checking fuel flow to the carb and using nice fresh fuel

Also get the Battery up to full charge .. they like a quick spin to start.

Polarsilver wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:57 am Also get the Battery up to full charge .. they like a quick spin to start.

Also check your battery voltage on cranking

Battery is good and fully charged(always on an battery tender when not in use)
I will go with the fuel part and investigate!
Additionally there is a battery shut off switch on the floor unless you shut it off when the starter is not active it still powers the fuel pump
My thought was possible to much fuel to the carbs (again the symptom does not occur other than when the car has been sitting awhile when cold)
I will be rewiring it this spring to the fuel pressure switch (also adding the facet pump as well )

Thank you all so far for your input..............

I had similar issues , I randomly fitted what appeared to be the best starter motor to my rebuilt mini engine from some I had collected over the years. what i did not realise is that all "a" series starter motors are not the same.

i discovered that I had fitted one from my old Frogeye, as I remember this had 14 teeth on the bendix gear whereas when I investigated the mini uses 13.

The starter motors are physically the same and the 14 tooth will work after a fashion but will eventually cause damage to the ring gear, I subsequently replaced the starter motor with the correct 13 tooth with no issues since.

Thank you Allen
as i will remove the starter and count teeth!