My car wouldnt start today at school. It started in the morning, and has been starting pretty rough lately. It starts perfectly fine before it "died" but it would make a "vrrrrrrrr" sound after the car started for about 2 seconds.


I opened it up and there's a lot of black build up with particles. I can't tell if they're metal or not but I can freely move the series of gears inside.



Should I cough up 100$ for a new one or is this one worth fixing? What would cause the starter to not have enough power to crank over? My battery is still good. I have it charging on a trickle station.

replace or rebuild it

have your battery tested anyway by putting a load tester on it...just because its "charging" doesnt mean its good

Autozone said it spun slow, why would you want to even consider using it?

It only takes 10 minutes to replace, you already have it out and apart. Brake kleen and re-grease that bish. If it dont work out its just time and experience, maybe $100 saved. How do the brushes look?

I cleaned it. Solenoid...gears...everything. Greased it.

Starts like a champ.




wooo for saving 100$...

Good deal, If the brushes look good you should be good for a couple more years. Did you grease the bushing near the brushes?

no idea. but yes, everything that spun or made contact was greased.

Shoot! Wish I woulda done that with my starter. I spent the dough on a "new" reman'd one. It works well but now somethin' else is wrong with my car!!!! Can't catch a break. Been lovin' and drivin' Nissans for years but this 4th gen is a POS!! I can't go for more than 2 or 3 weeks before something fails or needs replacing. Frustrated!!!!!

Sometimes you can get a long piece of wood and bang on it too.

lol no. The magnets were so clogged, there was no room for the solenoid to spin.

I don't prefer the caveman approach.

Eh thats a last resort type thing to get you back to repair shop or what ever. But i cant say i havent done that before for a month or two

Congrats on saving a hundred bucks ! If my starter begins to fail this is what I'm doing before blowing money on a new one.