starters

Looking for some info on aftermarket starter vs stock starter. My 96 sport just turned over 100K and i'm thinking of replacing the starter. It is going to become my girlfreinds daily driver for a while, and I don't want her to get stranded. A couple questions:

1. How long has everyones stock starters lasted?

2. if you have replaced a starter and put some miles on a new starter any recomended brands or oem?

thanks for input JD

As far as I know the starter on my 95 is original at 213K miles, the starter on my old 87 was original when my daughter sold it at 235K miles. The starter on my stepson's 93 failed at approximately 196K miles. For that one, the choices were limited, since he was at school and I did the repair on a weekend, so the auto parts store that was open got the business. The aftermarket rebuilt works fine, but it was expensive. In case you haven't looked closely, it's a Mitsubishi gear-reduction unit, and you won't get one of those 20-buck rebuilds like the ubiquitous Delco. I would not consider this a routine replacement item unless you're already suspecting trouble.

On my '91, @135K miles still the original.

My original starter lasted me 200,000 miles on my 90. I got an aftermarket starter from O'Reillys with a lifetime warranty for 100 bucks. I would recommend that only because if it ever shoots crap you can take it back and get a new(remanned) one for free. Thats my input.

There is an intermitent problem with the starter. It seems almost like a dirty ground or a dead spot in the starter. I cleaned the battery posts (which were not dirty because I just put a battery in about 3 months ago), but i have not had the time to remove and clean all the grounds. It looks like the ground from the battery goes to a grounding block mounted on the side of the engine block, then another cable runs from there down somewhere.

I mostly was trying to get input on how long the original starter typically lasts and if it was about 100K, then which brands seem best as replacements.

From your experience it seems about 200k. Thats good news because I knew it was an expensive piece. I'll have to checkand clean all of the grounds really thouroghly.

Anyone had a problem with bad grounds causing this??

i have a 2000 with 168,000.miles and many drownings,still going strong.
and i heard of mean green starters,expensive.

i have the original in my 89. what is the price difference in the reman vs. the new. also what warranty does aftermarket give you, i'm not sure with over the counter dealer parts but dealer installed is 12 months/12000 miles. should be the same if you bought it there. make sure there is no oil leaking into it or it will fail prematurely

The original starter in my '88 quit mid-summer of 1997. Mileage was around 175,000 IIRC. Replaced with a reman from Auto Zone. Now at 245,000.

My stock starter lasted till 215k and abruptly died. I replaced it with a Mean Green and just love it. Cranks like theres nothing there.