I'm about to pick up my 3rd starter from Auto Zone. These are the lifetime warranty Duralast versions. The first one the solenoid was stuck in the on position so I had a nice spark explosion when I hooked the battery up followed by it trying to start the car. Took it back. Two weeks later the replacement gets stuck on. Now I had to RR again. The Bosch I replaced originally lasted from 190,000-358,000 miles, I told the manager he could keep the 2nd one and refund me plus the core fee. He told me all the parts houses are going to stock the same starter with a different brand on it.

Anyone know of a good aftermarket? Not really interested in paying for OEM for such an old car.

 

Just find a used OEM one off Ebay.

 

Not quite. Although some of the off name generics may snowball each other, the major brands tend to do their own footwork. Kind of like bearings. There are probably 20 different companies, but only really 3-4 manufacturers of the bearings. You just have to find out what brand you are getting and avoid them.

FWIW I *think* the OEM starter was by Hitachi.

 

Well, the OP never stated what year, stick or auto of his Accord; however, most the 4th, 5th, and 6th gen Accords used Denso or Mitsuba. IMHO, the Denso starter were one of the best out there. Many times with a Denso starter, you could just replace the contacts for not too much and be okay again. Some people will replace the contacts and plunger on them, as the other parts on a Denso starter usually were still good.

If you google it, there are DIY with pictures where people replace the contacts on the Denso starter for their Hondas and Toyotas and usually were good to go.

 

Redbulls right, Denso is the deal. So far thats all ive had to replace on the engine of my accord..

 

The Toyota starter rebuild kit works for the Denso starters. It cures 99% of starter issues. As already stated, this kit replaces the brushes, the plunger and copper contacts. There are a few threads covering this topic if you search.

 

I just take mine to the alternator re-builder in my town. Usually they can do it the same day and are cheap compared to buying a new starter.

 

Still using duralast on mine. I drive short distances, but it's been 3 years so far. So far so good. However, I wished I had rebuilt my original starter myself. Once you give it to these rebuild manufacturers, it usually becomes crap.

My dad bought a rebuild starter from Oreilly's and it's been on and off. Had to take it in so many time to get it warrantied. Then again, he uses the starter a lot during the day for his work.

If you want to take the chance and you might get lucky, do auto parts store. If you want reliability, buy OEM.

 

If you do it this way make sure they are using quality replacement parts. Most "cheap" repair techs use the cheapest replacement parts they can find. It helps their profit margin.

 

Sorry about about the lack of info guys, it's a 95 F22B2, auto. I've rebuilt alternators before but not a starter. Maybe I'll grab one a stock one the local junk yard and rebuild it and give Auto Zone this third new one back.