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$303 to replace a starter?

My '93 Nissan Sentra wouldn't start so I left it with a neighborhood garage which called me with an estimate of $303 for a new starter. Does that seem like too much?

Replace starter (1-yr warranty) $169.73 Labor 118.00 Tax 15.28 ===== 303.01

Now here's the story: I called AAA Saturday evening because the car left me stranded. It had never failed to start before. The AAA guy said the 6 yr old battery still had plenty of charge, but I might want a new one anyway. The car required a push to start, and I went to Advance Autoparts for a new battery.

'Clarissa' installed the new battery, and I turned the key. NOTHING! Just then this big guy steps up and says "I've been watching, and I think I can help." The hood is up, and he just reaches underneath the air cleaner duct a second, takes his hand out and says, "Try it now." The car starts beautifully! "Probably corrosion," he says.

Back home, though, the car wouldn't start. I tried getting under the air duct, but there's hardly room for your hand, much less actual tools! So I go to the place around the corner, which wants $300+ for a new starter.

Question (besides the $300 one) : What did the guy in the parking lot at Advance Auto DO to the car that helped it start?

Tnx, Jm

Reply to
DemoDisk
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on 11/17/2009 12:01 AM (ET) DemoDisk wrote the following:

A good mechanic can change a starter in less than 10 minutes. Even I, as a shade tree mechanic, can do it in 10 to 15 minutes without power tools or a lift. It seems like they are charging for 2 hours of labor. If that guy only touched something under the air cleaner to get it to start, it has nothing to do with the starter. Find a new mechanic.

Reply to
willshak

willshak wrote in news:SZidndvWuN- QOJ_WnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@supernews.com:

the common ground point for the electrical system is probably under the air duct.My 2003 Sentra has a common ground point there. you should find a screw going into the body with a lot of black wires going to it. you need to loosen all the screws that ground wires go to,and scrape any corrosion off with a wire brush,then retighten the screws. Adding star washers may help. and maybe a spritz of WD-40 to prevent new corrosion.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

neighborhood

NOTHING!

Replace your battery cables and clean up any corrosion on your connections. If that doesn't fix it, remove the starter yourself and take it to get it tested (for free) before you replace it.

Thanks for the answers, folks. I went down to tell them 'Hold everything," and found the job already half done. The problem was, I didn't trust myself to dig into the air cleaning system, which looks like The Tingler (old movie), if The Tingler was sixteen years old, like my car.

Well, crap, there was the air cleaner duct and allied/associated apparatus sitting on the garage floor in one piece. Under the hood, a big hole where the starter USED to be, and it's a simple unbolt, rebolt operation to give the engine a new starter.

Wish I'd known that.

Jm

Reply to
DemoDisk

Anytime you want to test your "skill" in changing a starter in under 15 minutes on a 93 Sentra on your back with no air tools , I'll put up a grand at 3to1 odds against that says you can't do it.

I can get a car and a starter for ya anytime you want, heck I'll even let ya put it on a lift if ya want.

Reply to
NissTech

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