Car repair question

[midnight armadillo]

Argh, my 93 Corolla needs a new starter motor. The garage is quoting $350 including a rebuilt motor.

Question: how difficult is this repair to DIY? I have my Hayes manual for the car, and a set of jack stands and a hydraulic jack is only $50 from JC Whitney. I'm handy enough but haven't worked on the car much.

[CanuckAmok]

1. Standard or auto?

PM me if you want...

[midnight armadillo]

2. Auto

.

[CanuckAmok]

6. I think your car has the 22R-E motor, doesn't it?

That would be a 4-cyl 2.4 litre engine.

I have the same configuration in my truck, although your engine will be transverse-mounted for FWD.

WEAR EYE PROTECTION! Tons of dust, dirt, and rust will shower down on you when you're pulling the starter off.

When working under a car, I always put a spare tire under onr rocker panel for safety, just in case the jack-stands fail, and if possible, let smeone know what you're doing, so you won't be trapped if the car partially collapses on you (that's happened to me!).
Disconnect the ground (-) from your car battery before you begin work.

Automatic makes it much easier. locate the starter motor, and carefully unplug and mark all the connectors. There should be a multi-plug for power, and possibly one for a sensor, but I'm not sure about that. Toyota multiplugs can be quite brittle when they're older, so be careful how you disconnect it. Depending onthe model you have, there may be a short braided steel grounding cable bridging the starter to the body (my truck has a solid box-frame, and there is a ground cable--unibody cars may not have this). Now's a good time to replace that, since you're down there. They're a couple of bucks at NAPA.

The motor bolts to the engine block with four longish bolts. Cleaning them and getting a purchase on the heads is the toughest part, but once you've done that, it should be pretty easy to remove. They're probably 10mm or 12mm heads.

You should be able to get a tested starter at a wreckers for about 50-75 bucks. Toyota ones are bulletproof, so I wouldn't worry about buying a used one, as long as it hasn't been sitting unused for years.

You can also get yours rebuilt on a bench at an auto electrics shop for around $100. Generally they will re-wrap the coil, and replace the bearings and contacts.

[wysimdnwyg]

3. Don't know about a '93 Corolla, but...

I changed the starter on both my '73 Cutlass and '81 Grand Prix (granted, almost identical engines) with no problem. As long as you can get to it easily, I'd say $350 is about $200 too much. The starter shouldn't cost more than $100, at the most.

[tridim]

4. Very easy

That is, if you can reach it easily in the engine compartment. Should just be a matter of unhooking a few wires and a retaining bolt or two.

[nickinSTL]

5. $350?

Above someone says it's too much for a starter, but from a Toyota dealer, it's about on par. It's about the same as what I've paid for a starter on an '88 Tercel and a '96 Corolla.

You'd think I'd learn! :)

Actually, if it has to be done again, I'll go to some other garage, not the dealer. (I'm slow, but can be taught!)

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Check this out

.
.


My Starter

so whaddya gonna do with all that extra $$$ ?

:evilgrin:

[CanuckAmok]

8. That's a good deal, but...

Shipping the reman unit and the core will be pricey. Check locally first.

Starters is heavy!

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. read on - shipping is FREE for ordersover 50 bucks - -

.
.

[CanuckAmok]

10. eeeexcellent!

The core will still cost to ship, though.

Still, good find--I'm bookmarking that site!

[midnight armadillo]

11. Donate to a Dem candidate, of course!

:-)

Thanks for the link!

[TreasonousBastard]

12. That's about right.

It's mostly labor. And a few extra bucks markup on the starter.

My '83 Corolla required pulling the exhaust manifold off to get at the starter. Cost me $300 well over 10 years ago.

My '88 Corolla, which probably has the same engine as yours, 4A-FE, or something like that, has the starter way off in the back somewhere, where you can hardly see it. I didn't spend much time looking around for how to get at it, but I know it sits on top of the transmission-- where the flywheel is tucked away. Looking at the back of the engine from the passenger side, you can see it tucked under the intake manifold.

I got a really good deal at one of the local auto electrical places around here about a year or so ago. A little over a hundred bucks for the starter, and some back yard mechanic showed up to put it in for $75. I was told he usually priced himself far too low for the work involved.

IF you can get at it, and IF you get the right starter (Toyota has an annoying habit of changing part numbers throughout the model year) you can probably change it yourself without more than the basic set of wrenches and ratchets.

Before committing yourself, get underneath the thing and see if you can see the starter and at least feel all of the connecting bolts, wires, and etc. If you can get a wrench to it without pulling the engine or anything else drastic, pulling it and popping in a new one is just a matter of being careful.

You may decide that the extra hundred or so bucks to have someone else put it in is worth it.