kmat123

I need to replace my starter and have been pricing reman'ed units. Napa sells their standard reman'ed starter for $120 (exchange) and their "premium" unit for $146. I called and was told that both starters carry a 2 year warranty. Autozone on the other hand sells their Duralast premium rebuild for $79.99 with a lifetime warranty. I like the idea of a lifetime warranty but am not interested in wrenching it in/out every 6 months. I'd be interesting in feedback on which starter you guys would recommend. Thanks!

-Matt

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

I would recommend neither. Go get a used one for 1/2 the price, and it will be a factory one not that junk aftermarket trash.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

What is wrong with the starter you have?

Best option, far and away, is to repair the starter you have, assuming it is the original Denso unit:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml

Mine was acting up about 10 years ago, I replaced the contacts in the solenoid and cleaned it up and it has worked flawlessly ever since and has nearly 280K miles on it now (about 190K when I rebuilt it).

sh0kk86

i wish i had of seen 4crawlers topic when i replaced mine a while back. i knew it was just my contacts worn, but for some reason i couldnt get them out, and thought they were just soldered in place.

i ended up getting a reman one at the toyota dealership for $100-150 i think, its been a while

toytech76

Both are junk. Dont get either of them.

874runnersr5

x2...

dirtoyboy

I have seen both brands fail right out of the box...

but hey, its warrantied so you can just go down to the corner and pick up a brand new one...makes sense eh?

kmat123

I already replaced the contacts in the solenoid (per Roger's website) last week and it didn't make any difference. When I start up my truck there is a whining noise coming from the starter and I have to give it some throttle to fire it up, which leads me to believe that the Bendex is not engaging properly. Any one out there have a working 22RE factory starter that they'd be willing to sell?

4RunnerFreedom

Go to your local CARQUEST store. They will either have or can order you an OE Denso unit. New or reman.

Its worth the extra cash. Those autozone rebuilds are junk. you will most certainly be taking full advantage of the lifetime warranty over and over again. And personally, my time is more valuable than the extra $$ saved.

abecedarian

I'm of the other mindset- they only take 10 minutes to swap. Admittedly, I did get a string of 3 bad ones from autozone, but they did last a year (about 18,000 miles) each. The most recent one is going on 2 years. All three of the failed one's had the same problem- the plug the wire from the ignition mates to being loose in the housing and breaking the solder joint to the solenoid.
And the one that failed forcing me into autozone mayhem was a factory Denso unit and it was the same problem, that plug, that caused it to fail.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

So let me get this right.

As long as they have lifetime warranties, you all don't mind the time and invonvenince of having to change your starter every 18k miles?

Think about the factory starter....often times lasting 15+ YEARS and 100k+. For me, my time is worth much more than the few bucks I save on the part. I don't like working all day, only to come home and get all greased up replacing a starter that I have to contort my body to get out. Its just a PITA. Abe: If you can do a starter in 10 minutes start to finish, I'll hire you as my mechanic! Even i can't change a starter, from start to finish, in 10 minutes.

Denso remans replace every part except the case. Schucks and autozone remans replace only the parts causing the problem. Thats why they only last 10k miles.

de6w6it

I got one from AutoZone, and it didnt last but 6 months. if you go to Rockauto.com, you can get a reman'd denso one for a little over a hundred if i remember, and thats what i did, and it worked out great. my problem was when i got the one from autozone, i of course traded in my denso one, and was stuck with some aftermarket crap that i didnt want to be replacing contacts on. So i figure now that i have a denso one again, if they screwed up the reman, i can at least do it myself if need be, but its holding up good so far. rockauto.com is a great place, and fast service, i would def recomend going there. they have a listing for almost anything, and they usually have a listing for the denso and aisin stuff.

mjwalfredo

I tried the contact repair but I wasn't able to put everything back together. It was too hard for me so I just gave up. I didn't have much wrenching skills at the time though.

My remanned unit from autozone has treated me well for almost 100k mi FWIW.

kmat123

I went down to Napa this morning and they had a reman'ed Denso unit for $118 exchange. I installed it and now the truck fires right up I did notice that when I replaced the old starter that their was absolutely no tension on the starter gear (bendix) and I was able to freely rotate it in my hand. Thanks for all your help guys!

abecedarian

I mind the inconvenience, but getting a replacement for free offset that substantially. Even factory ones can go out early. Also, being able to pick one up within a few miles of most anywhere I happen to be is a convenience. As mentioned though, the last one has nearly 2 years on it and over 25,000 miles. It just took a few others to get a good one... and me bitching about it and the manager giving me a new unit, not reman'd. And changing a starter once a year isn't that big of an inconvenience anyways- I waste more time on yotatech than changing starters. And I like working on my trucks.I don't have any problems getting the starter out even on the 2wd. I've got wobble extentions and some pretty trick offset ratchets that fit in there nice, so it is about a 10 minute job, fetching parts not included. Now, if you're offering a job, I need a minimum of 32 an hour plus per-diem.Now the flip side of that is that if Denso installs all new parts and not just what's bad, why can't you get a lifetime on them?

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Every part will fail eventually, so IMHO it makes no sense to put a lifetime warranty on them. I think Denso thinks the same way. It also allows them to keep their prices down, since they don't have to warranty a busted starter 10 years from its original purchase.

Lifetime warranties are the worst thing the industry ever came up with. But, what two parts fail most often? Starters and Alternators. Since they know 90% of the population won't cash in on that, they will take the loss on the other 10% of people who bring them in. They are still making profit on the other 90% or so. (speculative numbers, but in reality it works out close to that). Besides that, most places like NAPA and such make their money on other things in the store. The 3 money LOSING things they sell are Oil, Starters, and Alternators, aka Loss Leaders.

I worked at Schucks, and I hated that stupid lifetime warranty. People would bring in the most F'd up starters and we would have to warranty them. I even knew of people who would buy bad ones at the junk yard, then come warranty it and have a spare remanned one. Just silly.

blackspyder

After years of dealing with Class 8 trucks, forklifts and my own junk the easiest way is to have some one rebuild yours provided you can live without your vehicle for a day (or you have a spare). That and I trust my rebuilder. (more than even Denso). My cost is $40-$150 per unit (Delco-Remmys anit cheap to have done theres at lest 10 lbs of copper in them)

qdude79

I think the time vs. money argument goes beyond the consumer. Give me a license to buy crap materials and pay someone $2.00/hour to slap it together, I'll sell lifetime warranties all day long at a relatively cheap price, assuming the majority won't return.

If I have to pay fair wage to a qualified tech to use quality parts to see that it's done right, I'm gonna be a little pickier about how I price them and what I'll accept as a return.

For me, the argument suits the circumstance. When I was 16, I had more time than money. Autozone, here I come. Now that I'm older (and fatter) with a few more bucks to spare than minutes, I try to go with higher quality when possible. I, too, like working on my Yota, but on my own timeframe and not out of necessity to get to work the next day...

abecedarian

So it comes down to a matter of preference, cost and circumstance.
By the arguements presented here, some would even find it rediculous to buy used parts, much less rebuilt ones. So be it.

ozziesironmanoffroad

you're lucky then, the shucks/kragen, autozone, napa, etc, out here will not warranty you anything unless you bought it from them. so if its not in the computer, or you dont have a receipt, you're screwed.