How To Replace A Starter (Step-By-Step Guide + FAQs)

Your starter motor is giving you trouble, and you’ve realized it’s time to get a new one.

So how do you go about replacing a starter?
In this article, we’ll show you step-by-step how to replace a starter, mention the tools you’ll need, and answer some starter-related FAQs.

Let’s get started!

How To Replace A Starter Motor?

Before we jump right into the steps on how to replace a starter, let’s identify the tools and preparations needed before you start. Additionally, if you’re not familiar with the insides of a car, it’s better to leave this task to a mechanic.

Tools Needed For A Starter Motor Replacement

Here are some things you want to keep handy:

Sockets and a socket wrench or torque wrench
Screw driver
Pliers
Extra mounting bolt or starter bolt pieces
Battery terminal puller
Drive-on ramps, jack or jack stands

You can buy these equipment from any online, hardware, or auto shop.

Preparation Required For A Starter Replacement

Here are some things you need to do before you replace your starter:

Let your car’s engine cool down
Get the correct starter and solenoid for your vehicle
Gather all the necessary tools
Keep the vehicle or owner’s manual around
Before replacing the starter, note where every wire and electrical connector is located in the starter and solenoid. This way, you won’t forget what goes where after the starter motor replacement is done.

Now that we’ve covered the tools and preparations let’s go over how to replace a starter.

10 Steps To Replace A Starter Motor

Here’s what you need to do to replace a starter.
Just note that it can get pretty technical — so when in doubt, seek a professional mechanic’s help.

Step 1: Safety First

There are some basic safety measures that you must keep in mind:

Always use safety stands and wheel chocks to prevent accidental car movement, and remember to never work under a car supported only by a jack
Put on protective eyewear and gloves
Only use the correctly sized torque wrench or socket wrench to loosen any nut or bolt

However, the number one safety measure is disconnecting the battery and removing the negative battery cable.

Pick a fitting hand or socket wrench size to loosen the nut holding the wire on the negative battery terminal.

However, you won’t have to remove the nut entirely.
If it’s loose, just slide the wire up and off the battery terminal. To ensure that the wire doesn’t come in contact with the terminal while you work, tuck it away to the side of the battery.

Note: You don’t need to remove the positive cable (the large positive wire running to the battery).

Step 2: Jack Up The Vehicle If Needed

Some cars need you to jack up the vehicle to access the car starter.

To do so, place a jack beneath one of the designated jack points at the vehicle’s front. Then raise and lower or turn the handle to elevate the car from the ground.

Don’t forget you should always jack up a vehicle on flat and firm ground, and rest the car on jack stands for safety.

Step 3: Locate The Starter

Pop the hood of the car to access the engine compartment. You should find the starter here. It looks like a big cylinder with a smaller cylinder attached to it, placed in the bell housing area.

The smaller cylinder is the starter solenoid.
A wire should run directly from the positive terminal or the engine compartment fuse box to the starter solenoid’s top terminal.

If you can’t locate the starter, check your vehicle repair manual.

Note: Bell housing is another term for the transmission area that covers the flywheel, clutch, or torque converter. It’s shaped like a bell (bolted to the engine block), hence the name bell housing.

Step 4: Remove The Starter Motor And Bolts

Start by removing the lower bolt with a socket wrench. Use a screw driver to remove the screws that hold the back cover and brushes in place. After every bolt is out, remove all the wiring harness, including those connected to the solenoid in order to remove the car starter.

Use a bit of force to pull and remove it from the bell housing in the engine compartment.

Step 5: Compare The Replacement Starter To The Old One

With the starter out of the car, place the old (original starter) and new replacement starter next to each other on a table to compare them.

Both the starters should look almost identical. The holes for the starter mounting bolts should be in the same spot for the replacement starter. You don’t have to worry about the starter solenoid being exact. Most cars have a solenoid with three or four terminals — you can omit the fourth if yours uses only three.

Note: If you’re using a rebuilt starter, make sure it’s from a reputed manufacturer. A rebuilt starter is an old starter that has been remanufactured with new parts.

Step 6: Transfer Heat Shield

What’s a heat shield?
In a car powered by an internal combustion engine, a heat shield protects a car component from absorbing excessive heat either by scattering, reflecting, or simply absorbing.

So if your old car starter has any heat shield, transfer them to the new replacement starter.

Step 7: Place The New Starter

Before inserting the new starter back in the bell housing, check the flywheel for damaged teeth. If everything looks good, keep the starter mounting bolts ready and insert the starter right where the old one used to be (bell housing).

Step 8: Insert The Starter Mounting Bolt

After inserting, tighten every starter bolt to secure the starter.

Slide the two starter mounting bolts through the bracket on the engine and the starter. Then turn each mounting bolt clockwise by hand till you’re sure they’re fastened properly.

After that, pick up the right socket and socket wrench to tighten them all the way down.

If any bolt still feels loose, unscrew it and try again.
This way, the bolt doesn’t vibrate and detach while the engine is running.

Step 9: Connect The Wiring

With the car starter motor in position, reconnect the wiring harness you disconnected from the old starter onto the new one’s positive terminal and negative terminal.

Do the same for the new starter solenoid as well.
If you’re unsure, you can always refer to the owner’s manual and make the right wire connections.

Step 10: Reconnect The Battery

Now it’s time to connect the battery.

To do so, reconnect the black cable (ground wire) to the negative battery terminal.
Then insert the key into the ignition and try to start your car. If it does, your starter replacement was successful.

What if your car still doesn’t start?
Check if every wire is securely connected at both ends, then attempt to start again.
And if that fails, you will have to call a mechanic to help.

Is My Starter Really Bad?

When a car doesn’t start, the battery is often blamed.
And if it’s not the battery, the alternator or the throttle body could be the problem.

But it could quite possibly be a bad starter instead.
Here’s how you can make a quick basic diagnosis to determine if it’s a defective starter or another issue.

1. Listen To Your Vehicle While Starting It

When you turn the key in the ignition, does the engine make no noise or only a faint clicking sound?

There probably isn’t enough power traveling to the electric motor, indicating a bad starter.

Another situation is when you turn the ignition on, the dashboard lights turn on dimly, and the solenoid clicks or buzzes, or nothing happens at all.

The reason, in this case, may not be your starter.
Instead, it could be the battery or the cables.

2. Ensure Each Battery Terminal Is Clean And Secure

You must ensure that every battery terminal has a strong connection with each wire.

Turn off your car to check the wire connections.
Secure every battery cable in place so they don’t wiggle or come loose from the terminal. If any battery terminal looks corroded, you need to get them cleaned, or your car may stall.

If every wire is clean and secure, the problem can be a dead battery and not a starter.

3. Check Your Car’s Battery

Could your battery possibly be drained?
Try charging it with a portable battery charger, a portable jump starter, or another vehicle using a jumper cable.

If you’re jump-starting a car with the help of another, ensure you connect each battery cable to the right terminals.

Connect the red battery cable to the positive battery terminal on each vehicle. And the black battery cable should create a connection between the negative terminal of the donor car to an unpainted metal surface of your dead car.

Keep the battery donor vehicle running when jump-starting your car and allow it to charge your battery.

If your car doesn’t start even though you just charged it, there may be some other issues, like a bad starter solenoid.

4. Check If The Starter Solenoid Is Bad

The starter solenoid drives power from the battery to the electric starter motor used to start your car’s engine.

A bad solenoid will fail to transmit the electricity, resulting in a failed starter motor. If the starter solenoid is completely dead or doesn’t receive power from the battery, it can also indicate problems with wiring or a blown fuse.

How can you tell if a solenoid is faulty?
Here are some bad solenoid symptoms:

The starter motor keeps operating after the engine starts
Intermittent starting problems
There’s no sound when you start your engine

Also, you should look for any poor electrical connection to the starter and solenoid.

Now, wiring and power systems can be quite tricky to deal with, especially when it comes to something as specific as a solenoid.

And that’s why it’s best to call a mechanic.
They can even spot more specific issues like a bad armature, commutator, ignition switch, starter gear, etc.

You now know how to replace a starter and check if you need a starter motor replacement.
Let’s answer a few more questions to clarify things.

5 Car Starter FAQs

Here are some other questions you may have about starters and associated things:

1. What Is A Starter?

A car starter motor is a small electric motor powered by your car’s battery. It helps to crank the internal combustion engine of your car.

The car’s battery sends power to the starter, which starts the engine that powers the alternator. The alternator charges up your battery, closing the cycle.

The starter gear assembly consists of different components, including:

Armature
Solenoid coils
Plunger
Pinion or pinion gear (which meshes with the flywheel ring gear)
Commutator
Brushes
Field coil

Note: Electric vehicles may not have a starter. However, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV’s) that operate in a hybrid mode may have starter motors or use the generator on the engine block as a starter.

2. What Happens To A Car When The Starter Goes Bad?

Here are some of the things that can happen if your starter goes bad:

You may hear an awful grinding sound or clicking noise from the engine bay
Your flywheel may eventually become damaged
Your car may not crank

3. Starter Relay Vs. Starter Solenoid: Are They The Same?

A starter relay is an electro-mechanical switch, just like a starter solenoid.
However, they’re not the same things.

A starter relay allows a low-power signal (40-100 amps) to control a higher-powered circuit. In contrast, a solenoid is a switch that allows a heavier current (ranging from 85-200 amps).

They’re also structurally different.
A starter relay is a cube, whereas a starter solenoid is more of a metal cylinder.

4. How Does A Starter Motor Work?

In a starter motor, the solenoid (or, on some starters, just a threaded part of the armature) pushes the Bendix gear (pinion gear) forward until it meshes with the ring gear. This lets the starter motor spin the engine until it starts.

When the engine’s revolutions per minute exceed the cranking speed, the Bendix gear automatically withdraws, stopping the engine bay from spinning the starter excessively fast.

For related articles, read more about how a starter works and how to start a car with a bad starter.

5. What’s An Easier Way To Replace My Starter?

A starter motor replacement is quite technical, so the easiest way to replace it is by letting professionals deal with it.

And with issues like a bad starter motor, it’s much easier to call a mobile auto repair service like AutoNation Mobile Service. We can come to your rescue at any place for a starter replacement.

Here are some more things you’ll enjoy with AutoNation Mobile Service:

Quick contact with online booking
Professional mechanics at your service
The replacement starter and all other car parts and tools used are of high-quality
A 12-month | 12,000-mile warranty for all repairs
Competitive and upfront pricing

And if you want, you can get a cost estimate for a starter motor replacement right away.

Closing Thoughts

A starter can go bad because of manifold reasons.
It can be a damaged pinion or flywheel, faulty electrical connector or ignition switch, damaged commutator, faulty solenoid switch, and more.

Now you could follow our guide to do it yourself, but it isn’t highly recommended.

Handling specific components like a starter should be left to professionals like AutoNation Mobile Service.
Just contact us, and our expert mechanics will have your starter motor replaced in a jiffy.