Rep Power: 0

Hey all, I have a 5 speed 2001 Civic EX.
Issue: When I try to turn the car over all I hear is the starter spinning. From what I've read, the issue should be the starter. I just replaced my starter around May of this year and have put less than 2k miles on that starter so I refused to believe that was the issue.
What I've tried: I removed the new starter and all of the teeth on the gear look fine. I looked through to the fly wheel and the teeth on it looked good as well. I hooked the starter up to ground, power, and tapped the solenoid wire. I watched it spin and come out, so I didn't think it was broken.So far, I've replaced the battery as the previous one has been in there since 2017 and figured it could be time, this did not fix it. I replaced the ground wire going from the motor to the hood latch, also did not fix it. After banging my head against the wall I thought, maybe it's still the starter and I got a bad one. I've replaced the new starter that I got in May with a new one and it still does not start, and the starter is just spinning.

As for when it stopped working (which was around the end of August), I drove it the night before and there were no issues at all during the drive and it ran normally. The next day I try to start it, and I just hear the starter spin.
The car has thrown no codes. I can hear the fuel pump kick on when I turn the key. Sometimes when I try to start it, I hear what I can only describe as a single "puff" coming from the engine bay, then nothing besides the starter spinning.

I'm truly at a loss and have no clue what it could be. I tried to give as much info as possible. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 223

Are you saying the starting is spinning but not engaged with the flywheel, or the engine is turning over but not starting? I thought you were describing the prior of the two but then you mentioned hearing a "puff". That would make me think the engine is cranking.

 
Rep Power: 0

The starter is spinning and not engaging the fly wheel. The puff happens randomly and not everytime I try to start it.

 
Rep Power: 223

Where did you get the starter from? There are different starters between auto/manual, did you get the right one? I really don't know what's different about them though.

 
Rep Power: 0

I got them from Rock Auto and made sure to buy the manual starter. At least, the part that came out looked identical to what I put in. The manual starters have a partial metal housing that surrounds the starter gear that extends whereas the automatics do not. I truly don't think it's the starter since I put the first one on in May and the second this past weekend.