4th starter in 7.5 yrs

joyridez · February 26

Hi all, I've recently had to replace my starter for the 4th time in 7.5 years. Each time I ask the garage to check connections, etc and of course it's always reported as fine.

Anyone else have a truck that chews through starters, or have an idea how I can prevent this from happening so frequently? It's a base model 2018 Sierra crew cab, 5.3 with no extra additions or anything to the electrical system.

Thx

Z45 · February 26

What brand starters are you using? I drove my (GPS Survey Team) K2500 suburban over 100,000+ miles in 4 yrs and the starter never failed.

Short story: A friend went through 3 starters on his Chevy Impala in approximately 1 year. He drives 150 miles a day back and forth to work. He has the tendency to always buy on the cheap and do all his own repairs. Suggested he buy a GM part and he balked because it cost 3x as much (so he said). Finally on the advice of his brother, he paid the GM price. He drove many more years and never had to replace a starter again. Reman parts have HIGH failure rates so if that's the parts being installed, consider that as a possible reason and insist on Genuine GM parts. .

Edited February 26 by Z45

Snowcamo · February 26

Shops tend to use budget friendly reman parts. Purchase your own gm or ac delco from rock auto.

mikeyk101 · February 26

Are they 100% sure that it's the starter going bad? Are they testing it after it is removed? The reason I ask is that 2 years back, I had driven my son back to my Ex's place. I get back in to drive home and starter apparently isnt working. I had to have tow truck come out to confirm and then they towed my truck to my local dealer. Still was under warranty. They determined it was a "bad" starter and replaced it based on my symptoms and not sure if they ever really checked to make sure the starter was bad. Several months later, same thing. This time I assumed a bad battery and swapped it out, also a warranty exchange from Costco. New battery, still no start. I happened to be using an older Range AFM disabler and pulled that out to plug in an OBDII reader and check for codes. Suddenly the starter works. While driving around the neighborhood, I plug the Range disabler back in and immediately get a check engine light. I ended up getting in touch with Range Technology and they agree to swap my old one with a brand new one. I have been using the new disabler since then and the problem hasn't returned.

asilverblazer · February 26

In the last 40 years, up until the last week, exactly 0 starter failures in my fleet, and ALL my family and friends fleet.

Last week, the starter failed in my Dad's 2015 GMC Sierra that I bought new and sold him, has roughly 85k on the odometer.

I was convinced it was a bad ground, because I HAVE had that happen once on another vehicle, only found out it wasn't the starter when the new one exhibited the exact same symptoms.

In short, try a better brand starter.

Edited February 26 by asilverblazer