[Excaliber]

Assuming the starter drive hung up at some point, AFTER the hangup it may well never engage again. But I just don't think that would 'burn up' the starter.

Good ground is a funny thing, might work when cold, not when hot. My buddys FFR wouldn't start, stranded on the road. I went to help, hooked up jumper cables, nothing! Checked his ground, battery to frame, frame to engine ground, looked good and always worked before. I moved the ground side of the jumper cable to the FRAME instead of the battery, started right up! Turns out the ground terminal battery connection at the battery was bad, all though it sure LOOKED good. Now THAT was a head scratcher.