6 hours to replace a starter - LW300

The Starter was getting a bit intermittent on my '01 LW300. It has 100K
miles on it was worth replacing the entire starter. Carquest had a rebuilt
for $155 (wholesale) with $55 core charge.

The Saturn shop manual did not allude to anything particularly difficult.
What the heck, I replace a starter in most older cars in about 30 minutes -
WRONG!

The starter was tucked up above the transaxle and under the exhaust manifold
on the rear cylinder bank. You can't even see it much less the connections.
I had a 4" diameter mirror that I needed to see what I was doing. Luckily I
had already gotten a set of the inverse Torx sockets as that and a universal
joint on the socket wrench with lots of extensions were needed to reach the
mounting bolts when I finally found them. The biggest problem was that the
battery feed cable on the starter solenoid had become loose on the stud.
Arcing ate away the threads on the nut/stud so the nut would just spin. Work
area was too tight to do anything useful. Finally I got an impact hammer and
busted off the phenolic back of the solenoid. That cleared the way to
finally remove the old starter (which took almost 15 minutes of jockeying to
free up). Once the battery terminal was free, there was enough room to
hacksaw the bolt off and free the terminal.

All told, it took about 6 hours to complete the job. Glad I didn't pay $95
an hour on the labor. I am cut up, bruised and even after taking a hot
shower and Advil, very sore from the extreme exertions at awkward work
angles.

I was considering for a while to remove the rear torque mount from the
transaxle to chassis to make for work space - either that or drop the rear
exhaust manifold. Neither particularly easy nor recommended in the shop
manual. There must be some trick that I missed, a miserable job.

Oppie

 

Just found Alldata showing that the starter motor could be changed in 1.5
hours (maybe in a perfect world...)

 

I had alternator go out on our 97 SL1 a few years ago. So, not having
much time to do the change out, I called Saturn dealer shop to find out
est. cost of replacing it. Shop guy said that it could go as high as $600
and I almost dropped the phone and asked if he read that right. He said
that was about right.......somewhere between $500-$600.
I made the time and believe me, it took a lot of time..........probably
6-8 hrs. total over a couple of days and lots of as you say "awkward work
angles". Had to remove power steering pump and several other things as
best I can remember and it was a miserable job which I don't want to do
again. I think some of those folks who designed the engines and
compartments were ex-aircraft designers.<bg>

 

I had alternator go out on our 97 SL1 a few years ago. So, not having

Saab: born from jets. Partially true, it is unsuccessful Saab aerospace
engineers that get demoted and transfered to the automotive division.

--
Gyz

07 Saturn Sky
98 Dodge Status ES
94 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST

 

Say what???????????
R U sure you are talking about 1997 Saturn SL?
My alternator died the same day I bought my 1997 SL with only 70,000 miles.
That was in late 2004.
I'll bet you the guy who sold it me knew the alternator was bad, but I
squeezed him from $3,500 to $1,800 and I am glad I did, cauz you always
assume that most people lie when they sell a car to you (at least most of
them that sold their cars to me).
Saturn dealer wanted $500 to replace it (that was in 2004 I guess would cost
$600 today).
My mechanic who checked this car before I bought it (too bad he did not
check the alternator) installed a new alternator. It cost $149 ($89 for a
brand new delco alternator and $60 to install it). It took him an hour to
replace it.
I heard that replacing a starter can take couple of hours but alternator
should not take more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Too bad my mechanic moved out of New York City. Now, I cannot even find a
good Saturn mechanic near me. My only choice it to go to Saturn and what
they charge
make me contemplate a suicide. Dr. Kevorkian! R U reading this? I need you!
Please remove all q's from my email before you reply.