My trusted mechanic installed a rebuilt starter with a 3 year warranty two weeks ago. The starter seems to be faulty since after getting the car back, the starter “chatters” like it is going to turn over, but doesn’t always engage. You know, the noise when you first turn the key before the engine actually engages. I took it back and he swears the car is doing nothing wrong. I have a 1994 Honda Accord that immediately cranks and the Maxima isn’t cranking that fast with a newer starter. What should I do?
You should find a mechanic who knows how to apply an electrical multimeter to check the voltage reaching the chattering starter solenoid; and, the, finding where in the circuit the voltage is dropping----what switch or wiring connector/connection has high resistance.
Okay, how to find that mechanic? My town is very small. Will I have to take it to a nearby city to the dealer?
How old is the battery? A shaky battery could cause this.
It’s also possible to get a rebuilt starter of questionable quality. The vast majority of guys working in rebuild facilities are strictly assembly line people who know very little about mechanical principles.
Couple of examples. Many years ago 2 friends of mine went to work at a reman facility (one of the nation’s largest); one rebuilding carburetors and the other rebuilding water pumps. Neither one of these guys could service their own cars; nor did they. Their cars always went to the shop, even for oil changes.
A very large engine reman facility near here advertised in the paper for “Engine builders, no experience necessary, 7.00 dollars an hour to start”. What does that tell you? 
What symptoms brought about the starter change in the first place? I’d bet a McRib that there was nothing wrong with the starter. Ask your mechanic if he uses his multimeter much.
He did replace the battery yesterday before I picked up the car. He has had the car for a week. I think it is a faulty rebuilt starter, he does not want to send the starter back because he said if the seller doesn’t find anything wrong with it the mechanic will have to eat the cost.
There is a brand new starter on ebay for 85.00. Should I just buy it and put it on? I know on a Maxima the starter is on top and isn’t at all hard to do. What do you think? I will spend more in the long run trying to convince him it’s the starter.
The original starter was faulty. I had a friend who works in the Nissan plant near here listen as I started the car. He works on his three Maximas all the time, and he knew it was the starter. He thinks the guy didn’t replace my starter at all, but took it to a little rebuild place here in town and got it done cheap, put it back on, and now has no where to turn to get it fixed right. The three year warranty obviously isn’t much punkin, or I would have another starter on there now and not a battery that I didn’t need.