How common is it to get a dead new aka rebuilt starter from autozone?

Mine had been grinding from time to time, turned out the solenoid had come loose some and wasnt kicking the starter in all the way.

Anyways I bought a new one today and it clicks and engages the teeth but the starter doesnt spin so Im guessing the the new one has a bad solenoid. Taking a break before pulling it back off

Figuring they left parts out of the solenoid as the post that the starter hooks too never gets power.

Ok these chinese guys ate their wheaties the day this thing got put together. Got one of the screws out of the solenoid but the other wont budge. Its a gear reduction starter so the trans on the starter is in the way some on one of the screws. Only starter they had in stock too

Just loosened the post for the starter itself and the battery lug and retightened both. Maybe that will make a better contact. Pretty sure it will burn into a groove so to speak if I can get it to work a few times.

Fixed

Either it decided it didnt want me taking it apart again or moving the post around on the solenoid worked. Either way its working. I love gear reduction starters, kewl sound.

Also I forgot to plug the block heater in this morning so it sat for 12 hours or so with at least 7 hours being 30 something degree weather and when that gear reduction starter spun it the thing cranked instantly!!

I have bad injectors that dont fire when cold so it normally won't crank if I dont use the block heater to make the injectors happy. It ran super rough from the injectors not all firing but it at least cranked

Spins it like a 4 cyl now. Why change it, if the solenoid behaves that is.
Shows 3.6 kw.

Well Im back to the bad starter and got my money back from autozone.

Solenoid on the autozone one kept acting up some and last night I went to crank it to drive to the office and the solenoid clicks and no juice to the starter motor itself. So this morning I find another store even farther away that has one. I end up driving 50 miles there and yep they have one but they must test the one Im returning. Im telling the nut, "It cranks sometimes and sometimes doesnt. So it may work fine but I still want a different starter". He tells me they have to test it anyway... WTF.

After watching the guy stare blankly at the testing machine for 3 minutes I offer to connect it up for him. He informs me you have to be trained to operate the machine. Im like, "Guess thats why your just staring at it then, havent been trained yet?"

After he finally lets me hook up the wires according the the COLOR PICTURE on the computer screen that he was looking at it starts fine 5 times in a row.

He informs me there is nothing wrong with the starter and there must be something wrong with my truck. I explain to him that I had already TOLD him it would probably start and I just wanted a different starter. He is telling me that if it works then getting another starter wont help. I listen to 3 minutes of a guy who wouldnt know how to build a starter if his life depended on it tell me how I need to learn to properly diag the thing and get my truck fixed before getting a starter. Im biting my lip hoping he doesnt notice the marred screws where I had already "adjusted" the contacts in the solenoid trying to get enough clearance to get them to hit evenly on the disc inside

Turned out one of the contacts was defective pretty bad and short of building it up with a solder weld and then grinding it back down I was out of luck.

Anyways after all that crap he goes to do the exchange. The computer wont let him swap it out. Seems the elementary school drop out at the other store had miskey the current starter as returned. So their stuff showed I had already returned the starter. GRRRRRRR.

So after making me wait 10 minutes talking to the guy at the other store he comes back and informs me that yep they said I bought the starter but that I had to drive 30 miles to the other store to get them to fix their screw up and then drive 30 miles BACK to get the starter since only they had another one.

So off to Talladega again. After getting to that store they tell me they will just refund me my money and I can go next door and buy one from advanced. They even called to make sure they had one. Im thinking kewl, end of problem. Nope. Since I used my card they refunded it to the card which wont process for a week. I drive over to advanced think Ill just buy it and wait on the other to show up on my card.

While sitting in the parking lot I guess Id reached the Ive had it point and thought PSN sugested the other starter so screw this crap.

I bought some locktite and glued the loose bolts on my original starter I had just gotten back from autozone from returning the new starter and Im fixing to slap it back on the truck and just drive it till the new one from db-electric gets here.

Thanks for listening to my venting, I needed to vent somewhere

Well at least I got a good cranking starter in the end.

Only cost me 20 dollars in gas probably.

$4 for locktite red.

Carton of cigs, I was smoking like a freight train $35.

So $59 later I have my original starter back on my truck and it cranks and runs fine

Course the old starter wont spin it fast enough to crank it without the block heater if left to sit all night, but at least it doesnt grind on the flywheel anymore since putting the screws back in the solenoid.


Ill order the new one from db-electric when the money shows back up on my card this week. Scary part is even with overnight shipping on the one from db-electric AND all that other money I spent on this adventure it will still come out being $15 cheaper from db-electric.

Scary.

Well I got my db starter in but I was in for a fun time with it. That thing is HUGE compared to the one that was on it. I had to grind the crossmember frame thing down some. I could get it in place without grinding but the starter was completely against the crossmember. Torque twist would of rubbed it pretty bad plus one of the bolts that holds the starter together could of come in contact with it causing damage so I did some grinding on it to be safe.

Spins so fast its like cranking a 2 stroke