Sounds like my starter problem not long ago. Battery was discharging a lot, but I thought the starter had gone bad. Ordered a new one from NAPA, charged the battery, and the new starter whined and wouldn't hit. Pulled it and put on the old one, and it works great. Got a new battery. I'm still trying to trace down whether it's my generator or voltage regulator or a line in between somewhere. My amp gauge shows negative everytimt I turn my lights on. But, like I said, the old starter was old and dirty, but it works! The new one right out of the box? No good. I'm convinced that I need to rebuild anything that goes bad on my truck just because of the junk 'new' parts I've labored with. Maybe you could just sand or blast your old cover and shoot it with original color paint?? I just took mine off and hit the points with some fine sandpaper, blew out the dust, refreshed the rubber gasket with some Aerospace 303 and put it back together. Good luck with yours!
