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Feel so proud of myself - I changed my own starter :)

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PeeluckyDuckee

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For someone who's not mechanically inclined I think I fared well. This is on a 2001 Honda Prelude where the starter is at the front easily accessible. The time I spent on it was probably double what any service tech would do, but that's partially because I did not have the torque/leverage/biceps as the big guys. Pretty much found things out as I went along. Started to remove more and more items as they were in my way because I could not effectively remove the bolts. Next time I'll remember to use some WD40 to help me loosen up the bolts.

The job took me about 2 1/2 hrs. I bought a reman Champion starter from Partsource. Had to disconnect the battery wiring, harness, battery itself, and the battery holder and metal plate at the bottom. The starter itself has two connections and held up by two bolts.

The problem was not what I thought it was because it would crank but not actually start. I replaced the starter and still encountered the same issue. The starter is on it's 10th year of operation, so I figure I'd change it anyhow as it's probably nearing its end of life. The real problem was the distributor cap and rotor, which has not been touched for a good 6-7yrs ever since I bought the car and changed it once back then. Inside the distributor cap was filled with so much particle dust (pardon the incorrect terminology) that it was no longer conducting.

Moral of the story? Check/replace your distributor cap/rotor every now and then Yeah yeah, I'm probably the only guy here who didn't know that, heh.
 
So wait, are you meaning to tell me a 2001 Honda Prelude has a distributor?

My 1996 Saturn has a full electronic ignition...

Good job either way 😀
 
Good job!

But before you go replacing something, you ought to read up on it a bit. 😉 The starter is an electric motor that is used to crank the motor over, and in concert with the other events involved in starting an engine (spark, fuel, air), starts the engine.

If your engine will "turn over" or "crank," it's most likely not the starter. I suppose if the starter somehow just wasn't able to completely turn the engine over, yet could still spin a little, then the starter would be at fault. But to my knowledge, it generally works or doesn't. (Right?)
 
I did do a bit of google on it before undertaking the task to see how complicated it may be, but did feel comfortable going in. Only thing I worried about was the bold would be rusted to hell and I'd break the head off, then I'd be in deep shit lol.

I guess I'm just lucky it was just right out there, as I've heard on some vehicles the starter is hidden at the back or bottom and you'd have to remove much more to gain access to it.
 
Yeah, srlsly... a distributor on a 2001? Those things were almost exctinct at the dawn of the 21st century... Good riddance too, I say.

In any case, you learned some stuff about your car and repair work in general. That's valuable. You'll be more confident next time you venture into the engine compartment. Being a competent DIYer can save your bacon.

I'm not looking forward to doing a starter replacement on my car anytime soon. There's a LOT of disassembly involved. At least I've done 90% of that disassembly once already so I can do it a lot faster next time.
 
Heh, I'm going to probably need a starter within the year on my 280Z. Doesn't look that bad, it's pretty easy to get to.

Speaking of distributors, I lost the door keys to my car so I've been disconnecting the distributor from the coil so *hopefully* no one will steal my car.
 
An ex-girlfriend of mine had a 2002 Mazda 626 and it had a distributor.

Congrats OP on getting the job done. You will become more and more comfortable the more you take on projects like this that you weren't sure you were capable of doing.
 
I think my car is its own anti theft device. Nobody would want to steal it, the change in the ash tray is worth more than the rest of the vehicle.
Speaking of distributors, I lost the door keys to my car so I've been disconnecting the distributor from the coil so *hopefully* no one will steal my car.
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I suspect opening the hood every time you park the car is more of an invitation to steal the car. You might consider installing a hidden kill switch under the dash instead.
 
I did numerous starter replacements on the older hondas and they're all super simple. I thought I could tackle the job on my lexus but turns out I had to remove half the engine components to get to it so I said screw that. Independent shop did it for $800 =(.
 
nkgreen said:
Speaking of distributors, I lost the door keys to my car so I've been disconnecting the distributor from the coil so *hopefully* no one will steal my car.
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if youo just dont want to get the ignition rekeyed or replaced, put a reverse solenoid on the coil lead or starter, then hide the button for it somewhere inside your car so you can still start it. easy enough to do and hide, hard to figure out when youre trying to steal a car. my friend and i did this with our older vehicles that had dash mounted ignitions, since it was so easy to bypass. he had a 65 chevy 2 nova, he had dual solenoids so you had to hold a hidden switch while pushing a starter button he put in. pretty cool.
 
hanoverphist said:
if youo just dont want to get the ignition rekeyed or replaced, put a reverse solenoid on the coil lead or starter, then hide the button for it somewhere inside your car so you can still start it. easy enough to do and hide, hard to figure out when youre trying to steal a car. my friend and i did this with our older vehicles that had dash mounted ignitions, since it was so easy to bypass. he had a 65 chevy 2 nova, he had dual solenoids so you had to hold a hidden switch while pushing a starter button he put in. pretty cool.
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well the door key and ignition keys were different. someone could have just opened the door, popped the hood and stuck a screwdriver to the starter solenoid. not a big deal if i could lock the door.

i ended up getting keys made. only cost about $20.
 
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