How Many Miles Will I Get Out of My Car’s Starter?

You should get 100,000 miles or more out of your car’s factory starter. After this time, Righteous Auto Care can replace your starter when it goes bad. We are going to list the signs of a bad starter below so you know what to look for when dealing with your automobile.

You may hear your car crank a few times before it starts, but this is the only thing you should hear. If you hear strange sounds such as buzzing, clicking, or whirring, this is a sign that the starter is going bad. Even worse, you may hear whirring after the vehicle has started. This is a sign that the starter has not disengaged like it should. Drive straight to our shop if your engine makes noise before it ignites.

The reason why it’s important to drive straight to our shop is there will come a point very quickly when your engine will not start at all. If we replace the starter before it dies completely, you won’t end up stranded somewhere with a dead engine. If you absolutely cannot get your engine started no matter how hard you try, it’s probable that the starter has died and needs to be replaced.

You can check to see if the issue is the starter or a dead battery. Take a look at your vehicle’s lights to see if they are working. If they are, the battery is supplying electricity to the lights, so this is not the reason why your automobile will not start. Any time you have a dead engine with working lights, it’s a safe bet that the starter is the reason why the engine will not ignite.

You may smell hot odors and/or see visible smoke wafting from underneath the hood if you keep trying to start your automobile with a dead starter. The engine is not going to start no matter how hard you try, but if you continue to try, you will overheat the starter.

Finally, we mentioned in the introduction to this blog post that the starter should last approximately 100,000 miles or more. If your starter has died before this time, it’s possible that you have a serious oil leak in your engine and the starter is saturated with motor oil.

Call Righteous Auto Care in Racine, WI, today if you suspect that your starter motor is going bad. We will test it and replace it if necessary.