97 OBW AT. Replaced the starter with a reman Subaru 2 years ago. I often turn the key and nothing happens but then it'll finally turn over after a few more tires. I hear at least two "clicks" when I turn and nothing happens, which I guess are relays. Been going on for a long time but getting worse over time. Today it wouldn't start even after 100 tries. I hooked up a jump back and that didn't help. I'm about the replace the starter again but I know there's discussion of some contact that cause this problem, tho I don't exactly recall.

 

Is there a more reliable product than the Subaru reman starter? I see plenty of offerings but want to stay away from the lousy ones.

 

Thoughts?

Edited October 13, 20169 yr by bstone

Repair what you already have.  Look on page 2 on this forum for a post from speedwagon called "starter or relay" in it I describe how to check and fixed the solenoid on your starter. 

The OP hasn't established that the starter solinoid is getting 12 v when he turns the key!  To do this, temporailry touch a wire from the battery 12 volt terminal to the starter solinoid.  You probably should buy a female spade to make sure that you get a good connection at the starter.

Edited May 20, 20178 yr by mikec03

I have never had any trouble with reman starters. Starters don't cost that much, if it were me, I would replace the starter with another reman unit. Most likely will solve the problem.

Replaced the battery 10 days ago and since then it's starting perfectly. Old battery had a 20A draw while the new one has less than 0.05A draw. Old battery went bad after 5 years and new one works just fine.

Normal expected battery life is 5 years under ideal conditions.  Actually putting one into a car that is used normally is not ideal conditions.

I finally got around to pulling the started and replacing the plunger and copper contacts inside the solenoid. Sadly that did not solve the problem and I continue to turn the key without the starter engaging but a whack on the starter gets it going for the next try. Thoughts and ideas before I replace the starter?

You should realize by now that,IT IS NOT THE STARTER.

 

Rather,the cause is high resistance connections in the high current starter solenoid circuit.

Could be ignition switch.neutral safety switch or any of the intervening connections.

Confirm by checking and comparing solenoid voltage to battery voltage during a no start episode.(solenoid connected)

 

Either find the offending component or add a relay so that high solenoid current does not have to go thru the faulty circuit.

Does Subaru offer a reman starter for that vehicle?  Where did you buy it, how much did it cost, and what was the part number?

 

In general reman and aftermarket starters (and alternators and fuel pumps) aren't excellent long term performers. Best to stick with OEM.

 

Most people avoid the high cost OEM Subaru part.  

 

There are subarus up to 2006 that use that same starter, another options is to find a lower mileage/newer OEM Subaru starter www.car-part.com

 

Starter is just an electrical motor so you can attempt to check and replace the brushes and clean up the internals. 

+1 what naru wrote.

Starter problems are quite often caused by bad battery cables/clamps, bad/broken/corroded/missing grounds, or loose connections.

 

The ground side is the easiest to rule out. Just jump a cable from a solid engine point (away from belt) to neg terminal. Preferably, wait and do try this when it's clicking, as it'll be easier to solve.

 

With key ON and car in park, I think you can jump the starter directly (been ages since I tried that in another car).

Edited May 20, 20178 yr by Bushwick

The OP should read my original post.  Naru clearly explains why this is sometimes the problem.  This condition is quite common on old subarus, at least from the late 90's.  

The starter is a reman Subaru part which I personally bought at the parts counter at the dealer but it never "felt" right. All connections and grounds have been cleaned well but it still fails to start without a WHACK 50% of the time and increasing. The warranty was for 90 days only which means I'll be looking for a new or reman starter.

This condition has plagued my DD, Frankencar, for over 15 years. I would start getting the click, click, and hearing that the starter solenoid was indeed moving, always pointed to: bad solenoid contacts, bad starter motor, or poor connection/low amperage from the battery or cables. So, when it got to be bad enough that I needed to do something, I would replace contacts, swap starters, batteries, clean cables, etc. until it was "fixed." It would go sometimes for months or even years without a problem, then back to the click, click. It was really starting to make me insane!

The final straw was when I was retrieving my boat at the launch ramp one day. I have to shut the engine off and leave it in gear because I still haven't fixed the parking brake   I get the boat on the trailer and, click, click... busy ramp already and one side was shut down for dredging. I knew worse case scenario, I could jump the starter with a screwdriver, but that means I have to put it in neutral. But I couldn't do that without rolling back down the ramp and glub, glub. So I have to chock the wheel with something. Aha! I have a bottle jack, that will do, but how do I get that back after I start to drive forward? I tie a small rope to the jack, chock the front wheel, jump the starter, close the hood, pull up the ramp as I snatch the jack back in the car... in front of a small crowd of impatient boaters.

So I get intense the next day to fix this problem for good. I get the meter out and start checking voltages. I have battery voltage at the Ignition switch, but only 8-9 volts at the start wire, so there is bad resistance somewhere. But I hear the starter solenoid moving and clicking against the high amp contacts, so that can't be the problem. Right??  WRONG!!  The click, click, is the sound of the solenoid pushing the bendix out to the flywheel, but not quite all the way to engage the contacts because of the pressure of the return spring. So I start tracing the start circuit. I check the jumper I made with the plug of the old neutral switch when I switched the auto trans to manual. It looks ok, but these wires to the transmission are way too small to carry full start current. They're like 16-18 ga. whereas the other wires in the circuit are 10 ga. So there has to be a relay, right?

WRONG!! As you can see in the pic in the last post, the upper part of the plug is from the old automatic safety switch, where I jumped the two starter wires together. And the lower part is the wires that run back to the main harness. The red and blue are the key wires to and from the switch, and as you can see, they are quite small. Even though the wires on the old switch plug that I jumped together are 10 ga. And there is NO RELAY! What. The. Hell. Subaru. REALLY?!? I've only stripped one EJ harness before, many years ago, and didn't pay any attention to the wires I didn't need. But somewhere in the main harness, the starter circuit switches from 10 ga. down to whatever this is, 16-18, then back to 10 to go to the starter...

 

I ran a 10 ga. directly from the ignition switch to the starter, and BAM, like it's never started before!! no lag at all, like there always was even when it was working "right." I know others have posted on this problem before and recommended installing a relay to handle this problem. I think that's a great solution, maybe even the best. But I am curious to know where these wires are downsized, (not enough to actually dig into mine) but others of you who have stripped many harnesses must surely have seen. 

100%. Adding a relay is the quick and simple way to make the system reliable. You are correct, the drop is enough to cause the solenoid to move and make noise, but not enough to get the contacts to close and run the starter motor.

I'm a big fan of getting data and trying to repair based on that information. I just came back from Advance Auto Parts and attached are the screenshots of their charging system analysis. Look at the massive voltage drop on the starter! It also got zero amps for a while. Thoughts?

IF you are a big fan of getting data and trying to repair based on that information,

then why don`t you measure the solenoid voltage instead of farting around?

IF you are a big fan of getting data and trying to repair based on that information,

then why don`t you measure the solenoid voltage instead of farting around?

O.o

You clearly missed the post above which shows the starter voltage.

Again, here, ^^^^ bstone is DOGGING someone who is going WAY out of their way to try and help him, even though he obviously has no clue, and won't take the initiative to even get a clue, when he's already had several people put the clues in front of him. Searching this forum, and the internet, will provide all the answers for anyone with the will and ambition to learn. If you continually post questions that have already been answered countless times... YOU ARE just LAZY!!! 

If you are taking your car to Advance auto parts to have them diagnose your starter problem that you ALREADY had answered here... YOU ARE just LAZY!!!

 

STARTER VOLTAGE IS NOT SOLENOID VOLTAGE!!!!!!!  GO READ SOMETHING!!!

 

Admin: Can I get some warning points on this guy?