Leaderboard

you can pull the starter solenoid apart and look at the contacts - but for $15 you might as well install new ones while it's apart. they'll be pitted and warn, not smooth and shiny copper.

When you're dealing with customers driving late model modified STi's you can't take that risk. The clientele that's looking to save $200 on a timing belt job don't usually even bring their car here - I have enough trouble with people that get overly sensitive about watching the DAM on their access port and call me immediately if it drops down to 0.9 I get it. I work on some vehicles like that. Used to work on a lot more but rising overhead and now being a mainstream shop that charges very near industry average hourly rate.... it's not how I want to be percieved by my customers. When we go in there we replace all wear items. And the tensioner is a wear item. They can and do fail. It's the same reason I use a $750 Snap-On digital torque wrench.... perception. People expect a higher level of work from us, just as they expect to see me and my tech's using tools they don't have at home. If the customer is budget limited I have financing available, or sometimes if it's a real basket case or the customer is just down on their luck I will put in some lightly used parts to help them out. We do this type of stuff for people. We highly advise against it and they are warned up front that it's a temporary fix. But for the general public that intends to maintain their car on the Subaru reccomended interval... well the price is (currently) $950 for the typical SOHC timing belt job and they should have known they needed to budget for this long in advance. It's not a repair. It's scheduled maintenance. GD

If you hear the , or feel with a helper turning the key, the starter solenoid pull-in, you have worn contacts and maybe plunger in the starter. Very common with older soobs. There are rebuild parts available. It is also very likely to be intermittent. Sometimes just whacking the starter with a piece of 2x4 a coupla times will let it start the car. If the solenoid does not pull-in, then maybe bad N safety or even internally corroded battery cables ?