Mini-starter misadventure

You got the wrong starter. There are at least two different ones and what's happening is, just like the aftermarket always does, they combine several part numbers into one. If you look at the bendix gear, I bet you'll see a button on the end and the gear teeth do not extend to the end of that button. Also, I bet a dollar the bendix does not extend all the way to the end of the inside of the snout either. Those two things combined either don't allow the bendix to engage the ring gear AT ALL, or they work a few times and stop. We've run into it several times at Matt's place and had to swap back to the old Chrysler starters because the "wrong one" is the only one stores can get. The "right one" will have the gear teeth extending all the way to the end of the gear body and the bendix will slide all the way into the inside of the nose cone. Otherwise, you'll likely have that issue. I've preached it many times here, only to be ignored, but it's a fact. I don't know what the difference is to get the right one. Whether it's a difference between manual and auto or exactly what it is, but there IS a difference "SOMEWHERE".