A few weeks ago, my car died. Wouldn't start. Finally had to jump start it and drove it straight to the mechanic to replace the battery. It was about 5 years old, so I figured it was about time.
Fast forward and the past week or so, I had a few times when I got in and turned the key and nothing happened. Turned it again and it started right up. That got much worse yesterday and when it took 3 or 4 tries to get it started and today when the last couple of times I wasn't sure it was going to start at all.
Needless to say, I was back to the shop for what I figured would be a new starter. I'm not much of a car guy, but I know the basics and it turned out I was right. Fortunately, I had nowhere I needed to be and they were able to do the work right away and had the part in stock. About 45 minutes and $486.00 later, I was on my way.
The only thing I'm kind of wondering now is if it was actually the battery causing the problem a few weeks ago or if it was the starter beginning to fail. Doesn't really matter at this point, and the battery was 5 years old, so probably would have needed replacing soon anyway.
New car starter = $486.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:14 am
July 20th, 2007 at 02:37 am 1184899049
I'm wondering though... is it the case that when your starter starts to go, it excessively drains the battery in trying to start? Or is that just an urban myth/old wives tale kind of thing.
July 20th, 2007 at 04:56 am 1184907418
July 20th, 2007 at 12:37 pm 1184935071
boomeyers - Yep, I'm used to it. I figure as long as the car doesn't cost me much more than $1,000 or so per year, it is still way cheaper than getting a new one.
July 20th, 2007 at 02:34 pm 1184942047
Also, it probably wasn't the battery causing the original problem, but after 5 years, changing the battery might not have been a bad move anyway.
July 20th, 2007 at 03:18 pm 1184944731
July 20th, 2007 at 04:25 pm 1184948739
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 am 1185151494