New or remanufactured?

[Coach James]

I may be buying a new starter soon. Any opinion to go with new or remanufactured? Dealer or aftermarket? Do any aftermarket places sell new ones? All I've seen at Advance and NAPA are remanufactured.

The battery is putting out 12.3 volts with no load. Haven't tested it with a resistance tester yet. If it isn't the battery, I'll have the alternator checked.

Coach

 

[daveblank]

Chances are, the sealership starter will be a reman also.

 

[boostedgt]

small independent rebuilder shops are usually pretty good and have good prices. if you know anybody who works in an auto repair shop ask where they get thiers from

 

[Zrexxer]

Sometimes it depends on price too, I bought a water pump recently, reman was 29 bucks and change, and a brand new one was $31. I told the counterman "you don't sell many rebuilt ones, do you..." He said "Nope, I'll pull one of those new ones for you."

 

[Rigmaster]

12.3 is a little low for a battery with no load. I'd start by having that checked, then clean/check all the connections from the battery + terminal to the starter, as well as the - terminal to ground(s).

As for the starter, it really depends on how much the price difference is between new and rebuilt, AND how hard it is to swap out the starter. If the price difference is not much, I'd go new- and if the starter is a major PITA to R&R, I'd go with new, or at least the "best" reman'ed I could find.

People talk **** about the Autozone, etc remaned starters and alternators, but I've used them in a couple of cars and my F350 diesel truck and have had very few problems. The starter in the truck started acting up recently, so I pulled it out and took it to the local Autozone to have them test it- it tested bad so they handed me a new one (rebuilt) with no problem. I bought that starter at Autozone 6-7 years ago with a "lifetime" warranty.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

People talk **** about the Autozone, etc remaned starters and alternators, but I've used them in a couple of cars and my F350 diesel truck and have had very few problems. The starter in the truck started acting up recently, so I pulled it out and took it to the local Autozone to have them test it- it tested bad so they handed me a new one (rebuilt) with no problem. I bought that starter at Autozone 6-7 years ago with a "lifetime" warranty.

I had a similar AutoZone experience earlier this year. The Starter in my Ranger did NOTHING when engerized, after some troubleshooting to verify everything else was OK, I carefully pulled it and checked it on a bench with a jumper cable, still didn't work.

I carefully handled it and took it to Autozone, where I had got it new several years ago (is was a NEW manufacture China clone of the original, not rebuilt). The guy hefted it onto their test bench and slammed it down, powered it and it ran, I cringed figuring he would give me a hard time or refuse to replace it, but he turned it up on end and shook it and all kinds of black crud came out, so he went and got me a new one, and swapped it under warranty.

Normally I have my original units rebuilt, but I had bought this in desperation on a weekend when the truck HAD to run, several years ago when it was the only vehicle I had (that ran).

Charles

 

[Coach James]

I had the battery checked at Advance and it was bad. Replaced it earlier today and van runs fine. The old battery lasted five years so I'm not too unhappy.

Starter doesn't look too bad to replace but I don't want to have to do it twice. I went through four starters in a week for my truck a few years ago. Changing a starter at 10:30 at night so I can get to work the next day is extremly annoying.

I asked two guys at Advance where they got their rebuilts from and of course they didn't know since it wasn't on their computer screen. Plus I don't put much faith in anything they tell me anyway.

Thanks for all the info. I get a lot more help and useful information on this forum than I do at the parts store.

Coach

 

[Merkava_4]

A lifetime warranty from a store that's not gonna go out of business in the next 10 years is paramount to me. A new starter for my Buick is over $200!! You think I'm gonna buy one with a 90 day warranty?