My starter on the 95 Legacy LS Automatic is going. I have to press the key multiple times before it kicks in.

 

I received a price for repare from a dealer as follow.

270. for the started new and 249. for 3 hours of labor.

 

I also got a price from pep boys for a referb. The total cost was 165.00 including labor.

 

Your opinion on using Pep Boys, Your opinion on refurb, your opinion on the difference in cost.

 

Thanks,

I assume the battery is less than five years old and in good shape. Please be advised that (in my town, at least) there is a shop that does nothing but rebuild alternators, starters and radiators. Mine did the work in one day for about $75. My OEM starter has been great ever since.

Battery is less than 2 years old. Starter grinds a bit, does not click. thanks for the info. Now I know that the cost from PB is within reason and the cost from Subaru is robbery. At least for this case.

Before you go for the Pep Boys solution, check starter warranties on both options. Most likely the Pep Boys solution is inferior quality or refurbished vs remanufactured.

 

There also appears to be a major discrepancy on labor -- I would ask the mechanic what his three hours' labor entails and then ask Pep Boys if they are doing the same type of work.

 

If there is actually three hours labor involved, I would go with the best part. If the part fails and you have to pay labor again (out of the warranty period), you have not achieved any savings at all.

I can replace the starter in probably an hour. Give or take 30 min. It should take a professional mechanic around the same time if all he's doing is swapping an old starter out for the new one.

 

As for the quality...more then likely the starter pep boys sells was a subaru one that was rebuilt. If it has a good warranty, I wouldn't worry about it.

Drquasi--it's probably nothing more than bad contacts in the starter solenoid. They can be bought for a few bucks, just make sure you get the correct style contacts (there are about 3 different designs used.) Do a search--there were several writeups a while back.

 

By the way, my son and I had the starter out of my '95 Legacy in about 10 minutes--and we're not great mechanics! Sounds like Overtherainbow Subaru is going to get rich quick.

Anyone ever try to rebuild your own starter?

I did the one in a toyota 4x4 when I was about 16 with about as much mechanical knowlege as a newt.

Link to pics. All I did was replace one of the contacts and the starter lasted another 150k. Subaru starters can't be that much different...

I'd say contacts too....except for the fact he said it grinds......

You guys are the best. Anyway. I got home and started the sub a few times and the problem is gone. We will see. I will need to take it for a wheel alignment, maybe I'll have them check it.