>:( Don't buy car parts on ebay!

[crashwg]

Thought I'd save myself a buck (real it was all I could afford though) and buy a used starter on ebay.  "It worked when I took it out" is no indication of whether or not something works apparently though, so now I'm out $30 and still looking for a starter!  I friggin hate cars!

Stupid me didn't think to head over to my local AutoZone or Advance to get it checked first either so not only did I waste $30, I wasted well over an hour of putting it in and now having to take it back out with nothing but a pair of slip-jaw pliers!

So yea, that's my rant/PSA... 

[Dartful Dodger]

If it wasn't for eBay, I'd never have been able to find all the parts I needed for my Dart.  I even found a three on the tree Valiant for 200 bucks 30 miles away from my house.  It was sold as a parts car, but I was able to drive it home.

[Hoagie_one]

the killer is usually shipping.

heavy parts cost a fortune to ship

[TOK]

"It worked when I took it out..."

Yea, I always pull working parts off my car to sell for the hell of it on Ebay.

[SirPeale]

Yea, I always pull working parts off my car to sell for the hell of it on Ebay.

That statement would be assuming that the person would be taking it off their DRIVING car.  Junkers are sold for just that: parts.

[paigeoliver]

If you want a working starter then just go to the junkyard and pull one. Pick a car that is obviously there for "really freaking wrecked" reasons. If none of those are available then check by mileage, highest mileage first (highest mileage car is most likely to have a gleaming fresh rebuilt starter unstalled).

[crashwg]

Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I'm thinking about yanking the starter out and getting it tested just to be absolutly sure it's just the starter that's the problem.  If it turns out to be junk, I'll most likely leave some negative feedback and go talk to my neighbor who works in a junkyard, hopefully he can get me something in the $20 range.

[SirPeale]

You should be able to test it yourself.  I believe most starters run off 12V.  So just apply 12V to it, and if it spins...there you go.

Of course, this may be poor advice, so...take it with a grain of salt.

[Crazy Cooter]

You should be able to test it yourself.

[ChadTower]

If you want a working starter then just go to the junkyard and pull one. Pick a car that is obviously there for "really freaking wrecked" reasons. If none of those are available then check by mileage, highest mileage first (highest mileage car is most likely to have a gleaming fresh rebuilt starter unstalled).

Dude, like I've said before...

[ChadTower]

You should be able to test it yourself.

[paigeoliver]

Why doesn't MA have Junkyards? What do they do with all the cars?

[rchadd]

"It worked when I took it out" is no indication of whether or not something works apparently

pretty much applies to arcade boards as well

[ChadTower]

Why doesn't MA have Junkyards? What do they do with all the cars?

They probably crush them or send them your way.

[paigeoliver]

I just checked the listings. There are 23 Auto Salvage Yards listed in the state under that category on anywho.com.

To compare my state has 63, but missouri is a lot bigger than mass is (in physical size at least).

[ChadTower]

Right, but if you call, I would wager that more than half of those do not sell to the general public, and that another 10 of them have no more than 40 cars that are mostly trash.

And THAT is if they're even actually there anymore.  MA has been doing away with things like junkyards for twenty years.

[TOK]

You should be able to test it yourself.  I believe most starters run off 12V.  So just apply 12V to it, and if it spins...there you go.

Of course, this may be poor advice, so...take it with a grain of salt.

I tried testing a Ford starter this way, and found that I could get the motor to spin, but couldn't get the armature to engage. The starter did work when installed.

[daywane]

I hit a deer in my 89 s10 blazer a few years back.
insurance gave me $800. cash.
left me the truck.
I fixed it all back with ebay.
just finished today.
thought it was fixed last month but back fired from carb every 30 sec.
replaced plugs and wires and all is fine.
I took a chance on a power window switch for my Mazda and it fried a  fuse
can not blame the saler . he stated unknown condition.

[Stingray]

I've bought plenty of parts on ebay for restorations I've done, also with good results. Be careful about what kinds of parts you buy though. You're just asking for trouble buying a used starter regardless of the source. You're much better off buying a new or rebuilt one, they aren't that expensive on most cars. Money well spent if you want it to stay reliable.

-S

[RayB]

What's it cost to rebuild a starter?

[Stingray]

Been a while since the last time I had one rebuilt, but it seems like it was about $30. This was for an old inline 6 Chevy truck motor.

-S

[danny_galaga]

You should be able to test it yourself.

[crashwg]

Well, it seems as though it may be my fault and the starter actually does work.  Now I'm not 100% on this yet so don't start raggin' on me just yet.    But I brought the starter to autozone and they tested it to be working just fine.  Granted they also said the one that I'm replacing it with is fine too which I'm fairly certain it's not but whatever!

So, I'm thinking that either I'm hooking something up wrong or the problem is elsewhere.  I bought one of those simple lightbulb in a screwdriver testers to see if I can figgure out for sure which wire goes where and as soon as I get my hands on a pair of jumper cables and my mother brings her car over I'll get to testing.

Glad I didn't leave that negative feedback yet though... 

I'll keep y'all updated, whether you like it or not! 

[crashwg]

I friggin give up!

Ok, so when I was at autozone I payed particular attention to how they hooked up the wires and noticed that the way it works is that the ground is provided by bolting the starter to the motor, the solenoid gets full time power directly from the battery and when you apply 12 volts to the smaller stud that's when it all starts to happen.  So, I hooked up the ground end of some jumper cables to one of the mounting holes and touched the positive one to both the all-time connection and the smaller one and it spins right up and pops over into the engaged position!  Yay, that's what it's supposed to do!

So I install the thing again which pissed me off beyond all belief as it didn't want to cooperate.  It was bolted into place and the all-time power was connected to the correct spot.  I then tried to use the end of a ratchet handle to jump the connection between the all-time power and the small stud that makes it do it's thing... Well, it didn't work.  It sparked all over the place and clicked realy fast and loud back and forth.   No good!  Well, that's where I'm at now. 

I realy have no idea what I'm doing so perhaps it's a good thing that I'm quitting although I certainly can't afford to have it fixed so there goes the Rock 101 Sky Show and the NE-BYOAC meet!

I friggin hate my life!

[ChadTower]

Have you tried the Chilton's or equivalent manual that will show you exactly how to do it?

[danny_galaga]

I friggin give up!

Ok, so when I was at autozone I payed particular attention to how they hooked up the wires and noticed that the way it works is that the ground is provided by bolting the starter to the motor, the solenoid gets full time power directly from the battery and when you apply 12 volts to the smaller stud that's when it all starts to happen.

[SirPeale]

yep. that is poor advice . its not just 12v you are looking for. you need lots of grunt so you neeed to use a car battery and and jumper leads.

Well, yeah...I didn't think he'd use a computer power supply or something.  Nowhere near enough juice.  I just took it for granted that he'd use a car battery.

[danny_galaga]

yep. that is poor advice . its not just 12v you are looking for. you need lots of grunt so you neeed to use a car battery and and jumper leads.

Well, yeah...I didn't think he'd use a computer power supply or something.

[SirPeale]

...im glad to see that avatar back again (",)

Um...I've had this avatar for some time, what are you talking about?

[danny_galaga]

...im glad to see that avatar back again (",)

Um...I've had this avatar for some time, what are you talking about?

oh. i mustnt have seen any of your posts recently! getting too carried away with political posts again 

[danny_galaga]

yep. that is poor advice . its not just 12v you are looking for. you need lots of grunt so you neeed to use a car battery and and jumper leads.

Well, yeah...I didn't think he'd use a computer power supply or something.

[crashwg]

FYI, I was using the battery in my mother's running Tauros both hooking directly to the starter and also trying to jump the van.  Not everyone is too dumb to understand amperage is an equal part of electricity as voltage, although most people are! 

BTW, no worries that you thought I may have been doing somthing like that though.  It's always best to assume everyone's a moron, that way you don't overlook something they may be doing wrong...

[danny_galaga]

FYI, I was using the battery in my mother's running Tauros both hooking directly to the starter and also trying to jump the van.