Should I change my starter when doing timing belt?

probably not. It's only 5 years old.

check the belts, hoses.

Well its my ONLY car..... and as we know things have a way of crapping at when most needed

That's why I was thinking abt changing the starter as well

I want to get another 10 years out of this vehicle

How has it been starting? With fuel injection, the starter does almost no work compared to previously, because the engine usually starts within the first few turns - no long cranking anymore. One of the extra benefits of FI - starters now last forever.

Your call

Frank

Idler pulley for the timing belt.

The water pump is only accessible with the timing belt off, but the starter is not related to the timing belt at all. The accessory belts must come off to get to the timing belt. Replace those belts if they are old. I have changed the timing belt on an '87 Mazda 323 several times. The car is driven daily and still has the original starter and water pump. 105K is not high mileage any more.

If you want to make absolutely sure that your starter will last forever, just remove it, disassemble it, clean everything down with that aerosol electric parts cleaner (get all the dust and goo out of the bendix, if it has one) and lube the bearings with a little dab of good synthetic grease, and reassemble and reinstall. If you see anything that looks questionable, fix/replace it. This can be done at your leisure whenever you feel like killing a Saturday and if your starter is OEM and you do this every 5-10 years, it will probably last longer than any reman.

Heck, I do "rattle can rebuilds" all the time on 40+ year old starters and they work fine. Sometimes they need new brushes, but other than that if they haven't been abused they're generally fine. Right now I have a '55 Studebaker and a '62 Studebaker both with starters to which I've done nothing more than what I describe above and a repaint of the case. The generator on the '62 got the same treatment and I splurged on a new front bearing. The '55 Stude has a Delco 10SI alternator since it's not exactly stock, and if you google this group you will see my less than complimentary opinion of the cheap "one wire" reman that I initially got for this car. (it was worth the $25 I paid for it, but not a whole hell of a lot more.) I would FAR rather work on a dirty but unmolested original part than some offshore reman POS.

if you REALLY want to ensure that your starter will never crap out on you, buy a used one from a junkyard and put it on the shelf in your garage. :)

nate

OT: sort of. Don't know about Mazda, but I can only get rebuilt starters for my jeep. And the last 3 ... I kid you not ... failed within a year (the original lasted from 1996 to 2003). Now, they were replaced under warranty but if I'd known, I would have had the original rebuilt locally. My advice ... if the starter's working, leave it alone. If the design is such that the contacts can be removed/replaced ... sure ... do that.

Who needs a starter? I drove a Lada for about a year without one. You just have to be careful about where you park. It helps to be in a hilly area.

--scott

Been acting kinda funny actually. Not wanting to turn over at times

BUT....that MAY be due to other factors. Yes?

BTW....battery is only one year old

Hmm..well that's a thought

This car is automatic

Actually I don't have to replace it when doing the timing belt....can replace it anytime. Just wondering if doing it advance of failure is a smart mover or not

Well, THERE is your problem. Forget the starter, replace the transmission with a nice reliable manual.

--scott