is it possible to buy a new/refurd starter and it could be bad?

Bad overrunning clutch on the drive gear of the starter. Get another, not rebuilt...new.

Rebuilt starters from places like Autozone tend to be garbage. They only replace the bad parts and leave the old parts in that work. There is no such thing as "settle" with the flywheel. Either it works or not. What a load of BS!

Really! That mechanic is trying to take you for s fool harrymack. Don't allow it. That is the biggest crock... settle... oh lawd

My suggestion is spend the extra money for a Denso Starter, (yeah, I know easy for me to say not my money) at $220+ There is nothing wrong with Bosch, but they are a German car product reverse-engineered to fit a Japanese design and the Denso should need no shims. Part Number: NP2800171 Manufacturer Number: 280-0171 --- And please pay attention to what Jim said. The flywheel gear cogs need to be inspected each and every one of them, even one broken or chipped can cause the starter gear to not engage and cause even more damage. This process is time consuming, the flywheel/engine must be rotated by hand all the way around 360° while one mechanic turns engine and another inspects. One mechanic doing it alone could possibly miss something, having to turn engine and go back and forth to look. Best wishes ~`David

And Jim --- on dope, not just a dope. That still floors me that a mechanic would insult somebody's intelligence to that extent. harrymack, don't mean to refer to you in third person as if leaving you out of discussion. But that is what the guy did, insult you to the core