Good thing they have a life time warranty from Autozone. But at 300 bux they should. Solenoid went bad as they all do. The one they gave me this time was made in China.

 

Since when did starters from AutoZone cost 300.00? For that price you should have gone to the dealer.
Last I remember they were like 100.00
But yes, they do continously fail, starters arent too bad to change if you dont mind being stuck somewhere but alternators heck no. OEM if not better for sure.

 

yeah, for $300 you're better off going to the dealer. also check to see if you have a guy in your area that rebuilds starters and alternators. they do exist.

 

They were 300 back in 99. I am sure the price dropped since then especially going from Japanese built to Chinese built.

But lifetime warranty and four starters got the 100 dollar starter beat.

 

Yeah, I have a 100.00 AutoZone starter as well, and ive had to replace it three times in the last three years. Looks as if a year is all theyve got to give.

 

265k and I'm still on the original starter

 

my original 10 yo starter died 3 months ago and i replaced it with an 11 tooth brand new one

replaced my original alternator for no reason since i was chasing a problem that originated else where, got a rebuilt one (125 Amp) with a 1 y warranty

I say if you are mechanically inclined have have ABOUT 300 bucks you can spend without crying (AVG 150 for starter and 150 for alternator) then replace it if you dont wanna get stuck. These things do fail in around the 10 y/o mark i THINK and you dont want to get stuck in the winter not being able to run the engine for heat on the highway or something

 

Mine's lifetime, had to change it twice cuz i messed it up accidentally.
Dr J

 

There is no direct correlation between mileage and starter wear and tear. It's the number of starts.

 

Might be a good idea to replace my alternator. Thanks.

 

i recently went through 3 starters from autozone with a week and a half before going to the dealer. I dont know if it was a bad batch but it sure was a pain in the ***.

 

Ha!! Getting a starter from Poop Boys today. $120 with lifetime warrenty. Any quick words of wisdom before I change it? Seems pretty straight forward. Started the car this morning and all I got was a "WWWEEEEEEEE" noise and the engine didnt turn over. Waited 2 seconds, tried again, Got a "WWWEEEEEE" but then it caught n started. Im gonna change it right away. Not risking being stuck in the city with a bad starter. lol.

 

words of wisdom : eat a snickers and drink a red bull cause you're gona need some extra energy to pop that lower bolt loose !!!

OR

You could just put an open ended wrench on it and tap it with a hammer a few times

 

LMAO!! Dude...that ish was so fkn tight!! I popped that baby off with just some oompf, though. The hardest thing about the job was the supid clip on the lil wire running out of the starter. I dunno why but I was scared to break it cause it was so cold out and I couldnt tell how it unclipped. All the clips in this car are different. lol. They always mess with my head. The rest was cake.

 

Not to rob this thread but, my starter died today. The original has 8 teeth but the one from autozone has 10. Is this normal?

Troy

 

I'm up to starter number three at 183K.

 

Perhaps check the teeth on the flywheel starter ring? That could cause some excessive wear on the starter if you have broken or misaligned teeth.

 

The 10 tooth is an upgrade from the 8 tooth, and works perfectly.

The independent store where I bought mine went crazy as all they could come up with was a 10 tooth, which didn't match my 8 tooth core. Then they found a little note in each box explaining that the 10 tooth is a direct replacement for the 8 tooth (it would seem the 10 tooth is an improvement as it should spin the engine faster).

 

you know I am a Master ASE tech and I also worked for nissan for over 5 years, I have a 96 maxima and well I would only put in a OEM re-man starter. the only starters that I have seen that need repacment more than once are the cheap ones!! just my .02 cent

 

Originally, I tried regreasing my original starter motor as suggested by someone on this board. That solved the problem, but the squealing came back in a couple months.

You know, though, that more people would buy OEM reman starters if they didn't cost twice as much as anything else (or if we knew that everything else doesn't last). I've learned not to buy the cheapest (like chain store "lifetime warranty" stuff) as I've heard many times that it doesn't last. If it dies, they'll give you a replacement, but you supply the labor each time. I went to a locally-owned parts store, figuring the quality might be better.

Even better, I've heard, are the local rebuilders, if you have one in your area (most likely, the locally-owned stores buy from the local rebuilders.) If my reman doesn't last long, guess I'll bite the bullet and buy OEM.