$303 to replace a starter?
DemoDisk
My '93 Nissan Sentra wouldn't start so I left it with a neighborhood
garage which called me with an estimate of $303 for a new starter. Does
that seem like too much?
Replace starter (1-yr warranty) $169.73
Labor 118.00
Tax 15.28
======
303.01
Now here's the story: I called AAA Saturday evening because the car left
me stranded. It had never failed to start before. The AAA guy said the 6
yr old battery still had plenty of charge, but I might want a new one
anyway. The car required a push to start, and I went to Advance
Autoparts for a new battery.
'Clarissa' installed the new battery, and I turned the key. NOTHING!
Just then this big guy steps up and says "I've been watching, and I
think I can help." The hood is up, and he just reaches underneath the
air cleaner duct a second, takes his hand out and says, "Try it now."
The car starts beautifully! "Probably corrosion," he says.
Back home, though, the car wouldn't start. I tried getting under the air
duct, but there's hardly room for your hand, much less actual tools! So
I go to the place around the corner, which wants $300+ for a new
starter.
Question (besides the $300 one) : What did the guy in the parking lot at
Advance Auto DO to the car that helped it start?
Tnx,
Jm
Tim Wescott
That seems like the going rate around here.
But given the rest of your story you don't need a starter -- unless the
guy was reaching under the air duct to manually diddle the solenoid or
something.
m6onz5a
Yeah those prices are fair. List price on the starter is around
$145-225 depending if it's an AT or MT, and it calls for about 1.5
hours labor.
jim
DemoDisk wrote:
> 'Clarissa' installed the new battery, and I turned the key. NOTHING!
> Just then this big guy steps up and says "I've been watching, and I
> think I can help." The hood is up, and he just reaches underneath the
> air cleaner duct a second, takes his hand out and says, "Try it now."
> The car starts beautifully! "Probably corrosion," he says.
>
> Back home, though, the car wouldn't start. I tried getting under the air
> duct, but there's hardly room for your hand, much less actual tools! So
> I go to the place around the corner, which wants $300+ for a new
> starter.
>
> Question (besides the $300 one) : What did the guy in the parking lot at
> Advance Auto DO to the car that helped it start?
>
>
Probably he just yanked on the battery cables. Not much else he could do
with his bare hands. The corrosion he is referring to would be on the
ends of the cable. If the clamps are corroded that can cause the no
start.
-jim
Tim Wescott
I thought this before I replied, then I thought "under the air cleaner???"
But yea. Always clean (and grease, if you have some Vaseline) the
battery cables when you start getting these oddball symptoms. Do it
twice when you replace the battery. A bit of oxide in between the
battery and the cable won't hurt normal operation at all, but looks like
an open circuit when that starter goes on and presents it's HUMONGOUS
load.
The diagnostic for this is to turn on the dome light (or watch the
dashboard lights at night) and see what happens when you turn the key.
Normally the lights will dim a bit when things are cranking over. If
they don't dim at all then the starter isn't drawing current. If they go
out then the battery or the connections to it have problems.
hls
"Tim Wescott" <t...@seemywebsite.com> wrote in message
>
> But yea. Always clean (and grease, if you have some Vaseline) the
> battery cables when you start getting these oddball symptoms. Do it
> twice when you replace the battery. A bit of oxide in between the
> battery and the cable won't hurt normal operation at all, but looks like
> an open circuit when that starter goes on and presents it's HUMONGOUS
> load.
>
> The diagnostic for this is to turn on the dome light (or watch the
> dashboard lights at night) and see what happens when you turn the key.
> Normally the lights will dim a bit when things are cranking over. If
> they don't dim at all then the starter isn't drawing current. If they go
> out then the battery or the connections to it have problems.
>
around the battery terminal (white powder, etc) but an oxide film on the
lead
battery terminal, dark in color, can present quite a resistive load under
high
current draw, as when activating the starter.
Vaseline works fine. It does not insulate the connection, but helps
prevent
the formation of this poorly conducting oxide layer.
jim
Tim Wescott wrote:
>
> On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:04:54 -0600, jim wrote:
>
> > DemoDisk wrote:
> >
> >> 'Clarissa' installed the new battery, and I turned the key. NOTHING!
> >> Just then this big guy steps up and says "I've been watching, and I
> >> think I can help." The hood is up, and he just reaches underneath the
> >> air cleaner duct a second, takes his hand out and says, "Try it now."
> >> The car starts beautifully! "Probably corrosion," he says.
> >>
> >> Back home, though, the car wouldn't start. I tried getting under the
> >> air duct, but there's hardly room for your hand, much less actual
> >> tools! So I go to the place around the corner, which wants $300+ for a
> >> new starter.
> >>
> >> Question (besides the $300 one) : What did the guy in the parking lot
> >> at Advance Auto DO to the car that helped it start?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > Probably he just yanked on the battery cables. Not much else he could do
> > with his bare hands. The corrosion he is referring to would be on the
> > ends of the cable. If the clamps are corroded that can cause the no
> > start.
>
> I thought this before I replied, then I thought "under the air cleaner???"
Well according to the story he did something in a very short amount of
time without any tools and said the problem was probably due to
corrosion. those bits of information sounded reliable.
-jim
Ad absurdum per aspera
> Well according to the story he did something in a very short amount of
> time without any tools and said the problem was probably due to
> corrosion. those bits of information sounded reliable.
Or just plain looseness (of course, looseness, dirt, and corrosion
often go together). The first step in diagnosing a starting problem
is to see how far the electricity is getting -- and, as others have
pointed out, conveying large amounts of electricity without too much
voltage loss to run a big motor, such as a starter, is more demanding
of tightness and cleanliness than just seeing a voltage at very low
current, as with a meter.
The original poster might want to disconnect the negative lead of the
battery, disassemble the air ducts enough to see what's down there,
and just chase the huskier wires from each terminal of the battery to
the ultimate destination. (Watching the Good Samaritan do his thing
was a wise move!) A "battery brush" and a small wire brush will be
helpful. If somebody reached under there and jiggled something and
made it work... well, that might not be the only problem but it sure
sounds like the place to look first. The negative lead goes onto the
negative terminal of the battery last, after the work is done.
That will also help make sure the alternator's full output potential
(sorry...) is reaching the battery, without which all else is only a
temporary solution.
If it proves to need a starter: I don't know that car, but whether
the original poster can readily see the starter, and visualize getting
at it, will help him figure out whether it's likely to be a labor
dominated job. As with many things in cars, especially transverse-
engined compacts, the difficulty can range from easy, to somewhat
challenging, to "how'd they get that thing in there, never mind how do
I get it out?"
Cheers,
--Joe