I am sadly having serious started problems, its dragging badly, and I was originally told that it might be the battery not turning the starter fast enough, so I bought a new battery ( old one was dying anyway) but it didnt solve the problem.

Now Nissan is charging $245 for the started the $106 for labor, I was going to get some other work done on the car, (rear main seal) and they wouldnt charge me for labor on the starter because they would be able to easily get to it when fixing my rear main seal.

I have an appointment set and about a week until I'm going to take the car in to get my rear (or front there not sure) main seal fixed, Can I buy a Maxima SE started from Advanced Auto parts, or one of those auto places, for less money, and put it in myself?

if so where is the started, My friend and I was looking for it and I wasnt' able to find it. I'm new to working on car, but am very willing, and have bought tools etc.

thanks for the help.

 

Update.


I should have posted after reviewing some things online.

An advanced Auto Parts near me has the Start for $3 cheaper, which doesnt make much of a difference, I guess I'm in need of your guys advice now, should I try to install the start on myself or wait and let Nissan do it when I get my car fixed, they wont charge me for labor so it would be the same as if I did it, exept there "professionals" and if they mess up somehow they have to fix it, versus me doing it I have to fix it. If its not that difficult of a job I would do it myself, just to get more intamite with my maxima and get used to her under the hood. and suggestions?

thanks

 

I had to replace my starter about two or three months ago. I got the starter for $200 from Napa and it took about 15 minutes to install. The longest part is that you have to take out the intake to get to it. Other than that is was a piece of cake. $200 was average price from all of the parts stores in the area. That also inluded a lifetime warrenty.

 

Keep your original starter and "revive" it....basically take out the starter, and take it all apart. Clean the internals with brake cleaner, and when dry, pretty much coat everything in a nice even thin layer of grease. Reassemble and sand down the contact points for the wires till nice and shiny instead of a dull black coating. Also sand the contact points on the wires till shiny and reconnect everything.

Honestly it sounds like a lot of work, but its really not. For the first time it should take about 1-2 hours for everything. For me (having done it over 10 times) it only takes me 1/2 hour for everything. This generally is the solution to most of the starter problems. Cleaning and regreasing prevents the starter from sticking and generates less friction to spin faster, and sanding the contacts ensures a good connection to the battery. If you want you can take an extra step and coat the contacts with a battery terminal anti-corrosive spray for better connection

 

About 160 with tax and core at autozone, life time warranty. Its a really easy job, just take the intake out, and yuo could work around the hoses.
you could save your self alot of money, which could be used in mods.

 

i think you should just learn to do it yourself, it can't be that difficult beacuse the starter is relatively easy to get it. thats how you learn, and when you have the luxury to do things by youreslf, you dont hav eto wait weeks at a time for an appointment to goto the stealership. Buy a Haynes manual or osmething, when i bought my car the next day i bought the manual and familiarized myself with the car, whats the worst thatll happen, the starter wont come out? and yeah motorvate.ca has a how-to on regreasing your starter if you choose to go that route, itll cost you $160 like someone posted if you give them your core.

 

i paid around 160 after i returned my old starter at pep boys. the starter is easy to replace if you dont have the stock intake system. The stock intake covers up the starter pretty well, but its not impossible to get to. to replace it you just unscrew the positive cable going to it and unscrew some bolts holding it to the tranny. took me about 30 minutes to do and most of the time i was trying to break one bolt loose(it was on there tight).

 

Check out your local junkyard, you'll save a decent amount on a used one or I'd take PoePoe2797's advice. Theres a write up with some good detailed pics lingering around somewhere. I'll try and find the link and post it.

 

thank you guys for the help, I seriously would love to do it myself I wasn't sure how demanding of job it would be, but with the info you guys have given me I will do it this weekend.

DoNcHoYaX1 : what kind of starter did you get.

I did a search at autozones web site and got these for maxima starters.

http://www.partsamerica.com/SelectPa...rchFor=Starter

ALso I do have the stock air intake, I haven gotten to do any modding yet due to much needed repairs, well thanks guys I will also search around and see for a how to on the starter.

mansurxk: your right, I was in Advanced looking for the book for my max but they didnt have it, hell yeah I wan to get a book on it so I can learn more about my car, since this is my first car, plus it being a maxima ( Nissan's Flagship Model car) I'm in love with it so knowing more and being able to fix more on it would be fantastic. Not to mention it would save me a lot rather than taking it to the dealrship.

 

Just go to your local autoparts. and they should have the starter for about 150 + tax. I went to autozone, it was 200 or around there, but since I had the core it came out to 150+tax.

 

Just go to your local autoparts. and they should have the starter for about 150 + tax. I went to autozone, it was 200 or around there, but since I had the core it came out to 150+tax.