legacycentral bbs

I finally got sick of having to pop the hood to tap the starter to get my engine running.(':smt021') Soooo I dropped the starter off the car and decided to fix it.

My symptoms were: turn the key, and hear a click. And to determine if the contacts were loose you tap on the starter with something substantial like the lug wrench from the trunk. If the car starts right up after tapping on it, try this fix.


starter opened up, to reveal nasty worn contacts.


New contacts 2.49 at local auto store ( NOT Schucks or pep boyeez) Your store like mine might not have a book to tell you whether they have some that will fit, just go down there and compare. This is really generic import stuff.


I decided to not replace the plunger, it looked fine. The one contact was very scored from being twisted on installation, the other contact looks good too but at 1.25 per why not replace both. THis picture shows both old contacts and the plunger.



There. A fixed starter for under $3.

The starter contact failed because I was taking the starter on and off so many times and every time I tightened the nut that holds the cable that leads to the battery it would twist the contact inside the starter. Be aware if you are constantly swapping motors or trannys...

You can also get a repair kit on ebay for $25 that comes with the plunger, contacts, rubber gaskets and plastic bushings.

$32 shipped. The plunger gets pretty worn out as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/STARTER- ... 5635ef0e1d





There's plenty of sellers selling these kits on ebay. Just type in "subaru starter kit" and they'll all come up.

Oh nice. so yeah lots of options to save a few beans.

I think the problem can also be your ignition switch. My first legacy had an intermittent starting problem where sometimes it would click but not start or not click at all. I replaced the contacts and it worked a few times and then stopped working again. It would randomly work and you'd never know when you were going to be able to drive it.

This car had the ignition switch replaced prior to this problem showing up because we got the car without a key and my step dad destroyed the ignition with a screwdriver to get the car to start and drive it home.

I never fixed the problem due to selling the car so I can't say for sure.

Nice! I assumed it was like the alternators where it costs more than twice as much to get rebuild parts as it does to buy a new one at the dealer. I'd much rather rebuild my original than trust a Chinese rebuild.

Cool!

Thanks for the write-up and pictures.

ahhhh, you really need to see something taken apart to see how it works. Thanks for the pics!

Yes, it's awesome you can easily get the plunger for the solenoid now. They get crazy pitted after a while, too. It's crazy how many people go out and buy reman starters when the problem is easily fixable.