2018 Subaru Outback - How long will the starter last?

[davesmopar]

Considering that most, NOT all, but most OEM (factory) installed starters are more reliable than aftermarket starters… So if the vehicle is old enough with high enough miles to warrant a new stater cause I am worried about it not starting out in BFE somewhere, then I would be very worried about the rest of the 4,000 plus parts on the vehicle…

[Tester]

If you don’t know the difference between a nut and bolt, you are not qualified.

Tester

[jdmere]

I’ve replaced starters on a 2006 Outback and a 2009 Outback. In both cases it was bolts for upper and lower. Also in both cases the bolts were tight but not impossible to remove. If you have a stud with a nut are you sure it is the right thing to take off?

[Cavell]

Whew. I’m glad bolts were not impossible to remove.

[cigroller]

@MikeInNH

Why? I haven’t had a starter failure on any vehicle we’ve owned since my 1984 GMC pickup. every vehicle we’ve owned since then had the original starter when we sold it or gave it away.

@db4690

I’d never pre-emptively replace the starter on a car that was only 7yrs old, fwiw

@VDCdriver

I agree… unless I was about to set-off on a drive across the Atacama Desert, or some other place where failure to start means imminent death. Sort of like the people who agree to go to Antarctica, and who have their appendix proactively removed here in the US, before they go… just in case.

@davesmopar

Considering that most, NOT all, but most OEM (factory) installed starters are more reliable than aftermarket starters…

I’m seconding all of the above. Even at its age, the OEM starter is a better bet than an aftermarket. If you’re putting in a brand new OEM, that’s another story. But still likely not necessary.

I’ve been on the road for over 40 years and over a million miles (guess…). I’ve dealt with starters twice (leaving out cleaning cable ends and their contacts).

One was an old '97 Escort where the starter is just very hard to access. But I had the head off of it which made it easy. I had a “younger” starter from a parts car and figured “why not.” Never had trouble with either one.

The other was an old Dodge Caravan that was doing this:

@davesmopar

When it clicks the 1st time you go to start it (with a good battery) and then starts normal on the 2nd or 3rd try to crank it, that is your hint it is on it’s last legs…

I didn’t even replace the starter. For about 50 cents I put a new contact in it and went on my merry way.

Of course it can fail at any time. Anything can. But the starter isn’t a high/certain failure kind of thing.

[TwinTurbo]

This is one of those paranoia things that drive some people crazy- how long do you test the new starter before deciding it is not going to fail? There’s a fine line between burning in and burnt out

[jtsanders]

@TwinTurbo

There’s a fine line between burning in and burnt out

The first space flight project I worked on had something like that. The IR telescope sensors ran at 12 Kelvin. Because the operating temperature was so low, they were in a big thermos bottle. Liquid helium (on the ground, hydrogen in orbit) was replenished through metal tubes epoxied to the outer and inner walls of the thermos bottle. They had a couple of sensor failures and had to replace them. Then the telescope builder decided to do several more cycles to make sure they didn’t suffer infant mortality. About 2 hours before we were scheduled to leave the hazardous processing facility for the launch pad one of the tubes sprung a leak. Alarms sounded and the lead cryo engineer tried his darndest to get the hydrogen leak under control enough that we could make the launch. Once the block of hydrogen ice evaporated enough to get to 24 Kelvin we all had to leave. The next morning the 160 lb block of hydrogen ice was gone and all that remained were really soggy thermal blankets.