how long does a starter last?

[black g50]

Iv'e never changed it since ownership.just wondering what is the typical life span?

[Q451990]

Failures are pretty rare... we see a few, but not enough to justify preventative maintence replacements in my opinion.

Heath

[black g50]

Wow that's good to know,Had to rehab em in my Ford,Mercury,Mazda and Toyota.Both Nissan products(Stanza)(Q) seem to last the life of car.

[kevindanielk]

All my Nissan starters have lasted to about 130K or appx. 15 years. The grease within the starter starts to harden and dry out, causing an intermittent no start condition that only gets worse. That's when you have to tap on the starter to get it to spin.

[qship96]

replaced mine at around 260,000 miles or so.

[black g50]

Yea had to tap it on a 88Tempo 3am 40miles from home pouring freezing rain in a 7/11 parking lot with a lighter that put out more heat than light....If it is the grease that goes bad,any way to open it a lill on car n squirt some in it?

[kevindanielk]

When I replaced my Q45's starter, I opened up the old one to take a look. It comes apart fairly easy with just a few screws but you have to know how to fit it back together properly, setting the brushes on the end just right or the case won't close up. The grease it it was toasted and the brushes were worn down quite a bit. You would have to replace those electric brushes, if they're too worn out to make contact within the starter.

[Wiggler]

I'm not sure how it is on Q45's, but I have replaced the contacts and plunger in my 1999 Toyota Avalon. Took a weekend mechanic like me about 2 days (between a full time job) to figure everything out, but with some telephone help from my mechanic, I totally surprised myself... I didn't have to totally replace it like the local Auto parts store jerks were saying, and fixed it for about $50 in internal parts. As opposed to $125 for a brand new starter, or $225 to have the contacts replaced by a mechanic. I wouldn't hesitate to take it apart on a Q if I could get to it.