Hi everyone. Well today was pure hell. Absolutely bad. Yesterday morning at 9:10 I was getting ready to go to class. It was freezing temperatures the night before, so I decided to go out a few minutes before I was going to leave to let it warm up for a few minutes. I turn the key and all I get was "click". Battery voltage was fine and the fuel pump was priming as normal and I even tried the jump start pack on the battery, so I ruled out the battery. I then spent the next hour trying to find a shop that will fit it in that day. Most of them said 1-2 WEEKS. I finally manage to convince a shop to fit it in. I then moved on to how I was going to get there. I called the local tow company and they said that it would be at least 2 hours to wait for a flatbed and to call AAA. I called AAA and arranged a tow with another local company. I then decided to try to take matters into my own hands to see if I can get it started so they can save the tow truck for someone else who has a bigger problem or an emergency. I went into the trunk and took out the tire iron. I tapped the starter a couple times and then turned the key. This time I was lucky. It turned over a few times and then started. Lots of white condensation smoke coming out the tailpipe. I then called AAA to cancel the tow (this was 15-20 minutes after I called) and they said "Ok, I cancelled the tow. Thanks for letting us know." and then drove it to the shop where I arranged to get it fixed and left it running. They say that they don't know why I was told that they can do it today since the starters on these trucks are a real nightmare. They decided to do it anyway. I start walking into town and I get a phone call from... AAA! They say the tow truck is at my apartment and both the truck and myself are missing! Now I cancelled the tow (ironically I called the same dispatch center that called me and now the same center is calling me back) a long time before that. Someone didn't do something right. The guy was really sarcastic and rude. 3rd time AAA messed up. I am going to cancel it. A couple hours later, the truck was ready. The mechanic could not find the actual failure cause (solenoid or whatever), but he replaced it with a remanufactuered unit. Starts up just fine now, although this starter seems alot louder than the other one.

Now for my questions:

Now how could a starter fail at 108k? Lots of use? This truck gets started between 2 and 8 times a day or more.

Could a failing battery cause the starter to fail? The last battery failed in June after being in this car after only 3 months with the same effect.

Why is the new starter alot noisier when I turn the key compared to the old one?

 

did they inspect the wire harness going to the starter? has it become brittle and corroded? i have seen a starter do that..you can tap on it then it works...and it was the harness going bad. just my 2 cents.

as far as starter...knock on wood...i have original one in...i start my ride 10 -12 times a day...my job has me doing lots of short sales runs.

 

lots of things go wrong at about that mileage. I'm in same situationIt's understandable that using the starter with low battery voltage might cause excessive arcing on the solenoid disk and contacts as the engage time is a lot longer and the engage force is lowerPossibly because 'Remanufactured' doesnt mean it has same tolerances that new manufactured has.

You never know what you are getting and the term means different things from different vendors. The simplest reman has the brushes and solenoid disk and contacts replaced, cleaned up and checked for excessive slop.
Exactly what the driveway mechanic would do with a rebuild kit.

 

What else should I be concerned about failing at this mileage? Tell me and I bet that I already had it replaced.

The mechanic said reman is high quality and they replace everything, but I realize that lower cost does not mean good. He also had to take my starter for the core.