09subaru Forester manual 230K miles. Battery 8 months old (new cable end) - it seems on initial start in the morning or after 8 hours of sitting car starts quickly and with a string sounding starter motor. After driving for an hour if I attempt to start the car a few minutes after turning off  - it's my perception that it takes maybe another second to start and the starter motor seems to turn over with less strength. - thoughts? 

Bought a starter motor from Rockauto but I am hesitating to install it - not sure its the fix or I am being paranoid on second start perception. 

Thanks, 

Milty 

Don't ever buy aftermarket starters or alternators. They are likely to be worse than what you have. Get one from Subaru. 

GD

hmmmm.....well, with heat, resistance increases, and at your mileage ,perhaps battery cables are getting bad? Even just refreshing the starter and all the ground connections could help.

 

also, in the mornings, you may have lower compression on an older motor so, maybe it spins a little easier?

Edited July 28, 20196 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

milty60,

The BEST information about car repairs you could ever get is to "never chase a problem with parts"!

Unless you know for certain that you need to replace a failed part, you often find that the new part didn't solve the issue and you just wasted your money, because the issue is still there. Get the problem properly diagnosed and then buy only the parts you need.

I have a neighbour with an idle problem. He bought new plugs, new air filter, changed his MAF sensor and several other parts only to have the same problem. An independent mechanic eventually fixed the issue (car only has 58 000 km) by shortening a vacuum line that had a crack where it joined its fitting.

Check the signal and power wires going to the starter itself. Have had numerous cars where the terminals get corroded and after heating up builds up more resistance and causes and slow crank and at times a no crank. 

Hope this helps,

Greg