changing the starter motor - what did I do wrong?

[bertl]

Hi all, just changed the faulty starter motor on a 1.8 k-series engine. But what did I do wrong? The new starter is working, but apparently not connected to the engine. It seems the cogwheel of the starter does not reach the counterpart in the engine. You can hear and feel the starter turning. I think when starting the starter's cogwheel should move into the green area to reach the engine's cogwheel (see pic), am I right? Well, apparently it doesn't ... Did I do something wrong or could the new starter be faulty also? Thank you for sharing your ideas! Rob

[bertl]

checked the wiring today, all leads have the right power when they should.

I assume the starter itself should not turn as long as the pinion was not pushed from the solenoid.
But apparently the solenoid does not move the pinion and the starter does turn anyway without being connected to the engine.

I'm a little confused as the lead that powers the solenoid gets 12V when I use the ignition switch.
I changed the solenoid with the one from the faulty starter, same result.