New 'lifetime warranty' starter from O'reilly is junk

[kookykrispy]

I had my original starter go bad on tuesday. I have a standard 3 speed transmission, so my starter is the one with the funky cast iron nosecone that bolts to the bellhousing with 3 bolts. Kind of hard to find. O'reilly had one for $40 with a lifetime warranty. I grabbed it a put it on. It successfully started my truck about 1/2 dozen times before it took a crap. what a pile of garbage. It says 'made in mexcio' right on the side of it.

So... now my truck is stuck at the bank parking lot. The new 'made in mexico' lifetime warranty starter just left me stranded on the first day of it being installed in my truck. The solonoid just clicks, along with the brake warning light illuminating like normal, but it does not crank at all. I just walked home about 3 miles. I'm waiting for my wife to get home because I think she has a AAA card and I can get a free tow.


OK, what mini starter will fit in the standard bellhousing? (I did try searching and couldn't find the info). I already tried a regular automatic trans style starter with the long bolts that bolt up into the engine block, but the nosecone would not fit into the hole in the bellhousing. I want to return this starter to the parts store and demand my $ back. These things are lifetime warrantied junk. I am pissed it didn't even last 24 hours before it failed. I do not want to go through my entire lifetime with an endless stream of garbage starters leaving me stranded. I want to run a high quality, hi torque starter that just plain works all the time, every time. So what fits?

[yotaforce]

"Anyone can crap in a box and stamp lifetime warranty it..."-Chris Farley-"Tommy Boy"

[Longhorn Man]

Did you double check the large battery cable on both ends?

[bigguy69]

could you roll it off to get it started? it does sound like a loose battery cable

[kookykrispy]

The cable at the battery is tight. I did not have tools with me... but when my wife gets home I will borrow her car and go up there with a flashlight and a 5/8" wrench to make sure the connection at the starter is tight. If its loose, you guys can all laugh at me!

I'd still like to swap to a hi-torque starter... these OEM type starters pretty much suck.

Anyone know if this would fit my bellhousing?

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[Gray Ghost]

Before you toss the starter out the window, check with OR's after you remove it. This happens from time to time with every parts house. They don't make the parts, they just buy and sell them from manufacturers. Your real beef is with the manufacturer and OR's will replace the starter immediately [unless your wiring is loose].

[leddzepp]

Lifetime warranty = you changing it for the rest of your life every 3 months for free.

[kookykrispy]

Originally Posted by leddzepp

Lifetime warranty = you changing it for the rest of your life every 3 months for free.

Exactly what I'm thinking... no thank you. I do not want another peice of junk starter. I want a refund. This trash did not even last through the day.

I want to know what mini-starter will fit the standard 3 speed bellhousing? Anyone???

[kamikazekyle05]

I had the same thing happen to me, i went through 9 starters in less than a month and finally got one thats running good, if it breaks again, my business is going somewhere else

[mycool72]

I've had serious problems with starters from them too....hmm.....

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by kookykrispy

I want to know what mini-starter will fit the standard 3 speed bellhousing? Anyone???

I think you are out of luck on that one.... At least I've never seen one.

LockDoc

[harlyworkr]

I might have one or two original equipment starters lying around if you need one.

[sjarrett71]

Wow, if you're this upset over a bad starter you must not have had to buy many parts. Believe me, the more you buy, the more bad ones you will get. Luckily it was only $40 and it DOES have a warranty.

P.S. I do understand your frustration though.

[BigDaddyDave]

Ive put three on mine in the past two years,all came from Napa. Nothing is made worth a flip anymore.

[Tx Firefighter]

The special starter that fits your bellhousing is not so special. It's just the cast iron nosecone that is different. You can take your cast iron nose cone off the old starter and swap it onto another GM starter to make it fit your application. That way you can run an old "known good" starter in your manual transmission bell housing and forget O Reilly and their remanufactured stuff.

Things like this are why I rebuild my parts at home. You can buy solenoids, brushes and bushings to fix your old stuff if you want to fool with it.

[Boog]

I recently bought a NEW starter from O'R for one of my 97s. I thought I'd spend the bucks for the new one and not take chances on a remand one, it's going on my wife's truck so I don't want her to get stranded ya know.
It never worked from the start. The solenoid must have been bad. New but bad. As soon as I touched the cable to the battery it began to turn over. The key wasn't even in the ignition. I took the starter down and inspected the wiring and all was good. Tried it again, same thing. I took that dude back that night and had to settle for a remand one instead. It sounds like crap spinning over but it does start every time. I'll be picking up a used ministarter to rebuild myself and swap that one out!

[Longhorn Man]

BigDaddyDave... Napa starters and alt are worse than the auto zone stuff

[Shyguy]

Boy! I must be lucky because I put a lifetime O'Reilly's starter on my '92 GMC K-3500 with a 454 about 5 years ago and it is still going strong.

Before that I had put a starter on from the local GMC dealer and it only lasted a couple of years.

I guess no matter where you get a starter they can go bad.

I agree that rebuilding your old starter with quality parts is a good idea.

I don't know how my son did it, but he put a mini starter on one of his trucks with 350.

Danny

[smoked68]

Yep almost everything, made in Mexico or China with the parts coming from India or now China. I worked for John Deere in Quality. Probably 70% od the drive train is from India, assembled here. Talk about junk! I'm not even going to get started on it, good luck.

[sameyrasmea72]

Originally Posted by kookykrispy

If its loose, you guys can all laugh at me!

Oh, we will. Jk. What size of a town do you live in??? I took my original starter to a local place that rebuilds starters and alterntors. I told them it was going into a truck with a high HP engine and that I need it to be really heavy duty. They said no problem. I did the same thing with my alternator even though the both worked when I took them off. I don't think it was much more that AUTO ZOO I mean Zone or the other places.

Plus, If you are a nut like me, you can keep the correct date codes and stuff.

[MonteSS454]

I work for O'Reilly's myself and have gotten ahold of 2 bad alternators and 1 bad starter for my GMC myself, Took it back in and my manager never asked 20 questions, I told him it was bad and we sent it back and I left with a new "reman" one.

In working there for nearly a year, I've noticed that pissed off customers aren't good. I ask simple questions and if I don't see anything physically wrong with it I throw it on the tester and 8.5% of the time the customer is right, but we do get the people that don't know a lick about sh*t when it comes to any aspect of a vehicle and it usually is a loose cable or something not put on right, not saying in your case though.

Take it to them and tell them that you want another one because this one is just clicking and not engaging. They'll throw it on the tester to verify it.

To me it sounds like a bad solenoid or a loose connection.

[Aarons72s]

The older oreilly starters were pretty good, the rebuilt in usa. I have used two of them. One on the blue van in 2003 and one in my truck I think 2002. But there parts there are really going to s!!t, well most part stores parts are. I know the acdelco reman parts use to be pretty good but don't know if they sell them anywhere anymore.

[oldspowered]

that is why my dad just gets a rebuilt kit from one of the mom and pop auto local stores here . and goes that route!! at least you have a good starter when your done!!

[kookykrispy]

Well, now this is very strange. The wife gave me a ride and I got down there, hopped in and it started right up... ??? so WTF? I guess this is an intermittant problem. Could it have something to do with heatsoak? After getting it home, I started it several times again, with no problems. I will double check all the connections... maybe I should replace the main battery cable? Is there any merit to wiring in a ford style remote solonoid? I added one one my '67 GTO and it cured all my heatsoak starting problems.... but that car is high compression, has headers and a ministarter too. This truck is stock! Could it be still experiencing heat soak?

I still don't like this O'reilly starter. I want to do something to cure this so it does not happen again. I want this truck to be dead on reliable, and start every time no matter what.

[ChevLoRay]

Parts suppliers are having a tough time right now, like all of us. So, they've gone outside the U.S. to improve their bottom line. In theory, "anybody" can do the work, but if you are riding a 2-stroke scooter to/from work (and you're lucky to have it), then a starter (or any reman part) doesn't even compute. You may see pix of what it is for, and you may lust after it, but you don't have one. So, when cheaper labor is the answer to the company and their bottom line.....unless we have the tools/skills to rebuild it ourselves, what can we do but buy the parts that only a few supply to so many jobbers? When it comes to starters, there are field windings and a starter armature. Sure, there are bearings and contacts, but there is very little about them that can't be replaced. If the housing is bent, yeah....

I had a car waaaaaaay back, when I was in college, and the starter took a powder. I was living with an aunt/uncle and he was a old, old-school mechanic who fixed stuff and didn't replace it unless it could not be rebuilt. He had a growler. That is an electric tool that you use for armatures that is used to check for continuity. When you laid the armature on the growler and did your testing, it would growl. Anyway, the commutator on my starter was bad, so he had me to buy a new armature ($12....when I was only making $2/hr). After getting some new brushes, and being sure the bearings were good, we put it together and tried it out on the bench, then installed it. At the time, the $12 that it cost to rebuild (parts) was a tough blow to my wallet, it was still cheaper than a new (rebuilt) starter or having someone to rebuild it for me. I know that some folks just don't have the tools that my uncle had, but a good volt/ohm meter will tell you if you have a continuity issue. What I don't know is who (in my area) sells the components to do my own rebuild. I guess you can see that I haven't had to replace any component in a while, so I'm outta the loop. Wouldn't take but one phone call to find out, though.

I guess the bottom line, in my opinion, is that anyone who can remove/reinstall a starter/alternator can also disassemble it and replace whats bad, if you have the tools. There are books out there that will tell you what you need to know to do it.

Like my uncles did as mechanics, fixing stuff is what made them a mechanic. Replacing stuff is what happens a lot these days, because time is money. The mechanics who work for flat labor are dependent on being able to turn the jobs as quickly as possible in order to up their incomes. Who wouldn't want to be able to control their $$? Having parts that are ready to install is what makes it easier for them to do that. We feel good that we can save the labor by doing it ourselves, but at what expense if the part isn't reliable? How many times have you seen the same parts house deliver to the dealership/garage? They get the same parts that we can get, for the same reason. The difference is that with the garage/dealership, we have an expectation that the parts are good and reliable and their labor is going to replace it, if they warranty the parts/labor. Many times, it's just the part.

This is one of those age-old issues that just won't die.