Frequent Starter Problems

[Debunny]

I have been having starter problems on my DHs `1979 Caprice for about a year now. The starter went out so we bought another one and DH put it on. It lasted about a week and went out again, thank goodness for warranties. Well Dh put another one on and it was out by the next day. By then he was getting pretty frusterated so he got a mechanic to put one on. It wasnt shimmed correctly and it somehow broke the bendex? in it. So he got ANOTHER one. They finally got that one kinda working. It would sound terrible but would eventually crank. Well, Dh left his headlights on at work one day and after he was jumped off the starter went out again; in addition to the flywheel. So we had it towed to another mechanic,a more reputable one. We had a new flywheel and starter put on and had no problems whatsever until 3 weeks ago. Dh once again left the lights on, big dummy, and once he was jumped off the starter barely started. So now he has been using my car which I need since I had a baby 5 weeks ago. He is just so frusterated because he cant figure out why running the battery down seems to mess the starters up. He even took the battery to autozone and had them test it to make sure it was good, it was. He loosened the starter and tightened it back up and it cranked right up. But after turning it off a few mins and trying again it was the same ol crap. Please if anyone can give us a clue as to why the starters all seem to go out, i would be so grateful.

thanks,
Debbie

[TommySS]

Once you run a battery down, it never really "comes back" to its original state.

Undercharged batteries can also shorten a starter's life, but it'll kill the alternator.

You need to quit leaving the lights on, and then you need to charge the battery (slowly, with a battery charger).

Always bench-test a starter before installing it to make sure what you get is a good unit.