I'm on my 3rd starter now after 150k miles. The first one died at 120k and was replaced by an Autozone starter with the lifetime warranty. That one lasted 30k miles.

Sometimes when your starter won't kick over, you can get in there and bang on it with something and it will start right up; however, DON'T RELY ON THIS!Replace your starter ASAP, because pretty soon the banging will just result in some scraped knuckles and a $100 tow job.

And just because they give it a lifetime warranty, that doesn't mean the Autozone starter is any good. It's just free the next time you have to fix it.

 

agreed - i ended up at the bank having someone push me so i could pop the clutch to start the car bc mine died. tapping did work for a little while but then it (the starter) just failed completely. went to Napa and traded mine in for a remanufactured one for $120. BTW i was trying to fix my starter noise and the project went horribly wrong - im pretty mechanically inclined and i couldnt figure it out. just a word of warning to those who are thinkin about trying it. i wish i would have remembered "If it aint broke, dont fix it."

 

I also had a problem with an autozone starter, about 2 years ago. It died after about 15-20k miles..but the new one they gave me appears to be made a lot better..no problems after 10k miles yet

 

3 winters ago mine started making a noise, only when starting cold. Oddly enough, it went away this past winter.

I think remanuf. is pretty bad nowadays, my friend needed 3 NAPA alternators in 1 yr. It's almost as if it's luck of the draw for quality. Yet free replacement doesn't really help when it's your labor.....in such a scenario it's better if it's someone elses labor, even if you paid initially.

 

The Autozone starter is 139. They have a lifetime warranty. It's their own Autozone brand, I have heard nothing positive about these starters. I suppose if you don't mind the labor of tearing out everything to get the starter out again.......I just bought mine at the dealer for 239. put in in today. Who knows, maybe it will die young too.......

 

i usually goto a rebuild shop, costs $80 to get a completely rebuilt starter...so they say anyway. im assuming they put more time into than waht time they put into the autozone starters.