1992 Mercury Tracer LX review from North America

Starter, 80,000 miles.

I bought this car used in 1999 and have been very happy with it. I even drove it from New Jersey to California and back the first year I had it. Last year the starter failed to disengage and my girlfriend continued to drive it with the thing clicking away and eventually smoked it. Those things happen and I wasn't too upset considering I had had it almost four years without any problems. A similar thing just happen with me driving the car. I noticed the check engine and parking brake lights would flicker on and off and then one day after driving it to the store in the morning, I came out and it wouldn't start. Wasn't sure what the problem was, but the AAA guy took a quick look and said let me beat on the starter a little bit. After a few seconds he said now try it, and it went right off. He said I may have problem with corrosion in the connection to the fly wheel and that should be relatively easy to fix. I decided to press my luck rather than have it looked at and it did the same thing to me yesterday. Does his explanation sound plausible? I don't want to pay for a new starter if it doesn't need it and I fear that may happen if I just drop it off without knowing some of what's wrong. Both times right before it wouldn't start, those lights would start flickering so I know there must be a connection somewhere. The fact that it didn't disengage last time leads me to believe there may been an electrical problem somewhere. Has this happened to anyone else and do you think there's an electrical problem? All in all I've been very happy with this car and would recommend it as a good first car for a teenager or good second used car. Any comments are appreciated.