Awhile back, within a couple of weeks of having the Clutch and Flywheel replaced in my 02 Accord, the OEM Honda starter began not engaging intermittently. At the time, $ was tight so I bought a Ultima reman starter from O'reillys with a lifetime warranty.

Upon installing it, I immediately noticed the unit was noisy when cranking. I drove the car back to O'reillys and had them listen to it - guy thought it sounded ok. Drove it for a few days and unit began not engaging intermittently. Since then, I've gotten three replacements from them and all of them have had the intermittent engagement issue. Talked to the store Manager the other day and he said he would refund my $ when I returned unit to him.

Question - could the first noisy starter I got from them have damaged my new flywheel which is causing this intermittent engagement issue or maybe their remanufactured in Mehico starters are garbage?

Also, my OEM Starter, p/n 31200-PAA-A01, shows as discontinued some places online but available at others like Bernardi Honda for $316.10. Besides a OEM starter, are there any Premium Reman options worth considering?

 

Unfortunately almost all remanned starters(and alternators, distributors for that matter..) for Honda vehicles that I have ever dealt with have been garbage. I have done the same exact thing as you in the past. Went through multiple, multiple warranty starters and they were all junk. Scratching my head trying to figure it out, etc. The chains just don't have the quality control that they should.

I started buying used OEM units off of eBay years ago and never looked back. I even recommend that to my customers with Honda vehicles as well. The OEM units may be used, but they always sound better, engage cleaner and they just work.

It's unlikely that the starter damaged your flywheel teeth. The flywheel teeth are designed to be harder than the bendix teeth on the starter so that sort of thing doesn't happen. It is possible that your flywheel does have some wear from age and the remanned starters are not reaching adequate depth to engage the teeth correctly though.

 

Another option is rebuilding the starter or just replacing the brushes. Many times by just replacing the brushes the starter can still work for quite a while. You can diy or bring to a rebuild shop.

 

Flywheel was just replaced with new LUK LFW118 unit from Rock Auto last October.

What eBay Seller(s) have you been buying from? I could only find one, japanengineusa, selling low-mileage, supposedly OEM take-offs with a 30-day money back warranty. https://www.ebay.com/itm/98-Honda-Od...frcectupt=true

Unfortunately, O'reillys got my OEM unit as a core

 

Find a OEM in the junkyard..lkq has 40% off all the time..next week here in Tennessee..

 

Don't have any particular one. I usually just find one from a reputable seller that looks good and comes with some kind of warranty.

 

Just checked Pick n Pull's website and they're having a Toolkit Members-Only sale this Thursday where nearly all parts are 50% off regular price whereas the general public gets 50% off Friday thru Monday. Will be there when they open at 9am Thursday and see if I can find a OEM starter and hopefully a nice Satin Silver Metallic front bumper as mine is faded and missing a good chunk of paint in a spot courtesy of the previous owner. If no joy on a starter, I'll buy one from that eBay seller I found.

 

I had similar issues when my starter took a dump. I went through remans and even new ones from NAPA. The remans squealed every time i started it. The new ones would never start despite their testing in front of me. I ended up going to Pick N Pull and finding a relatively low mile accord (presumably) with 117K on it. This one does squeal too but occasionally. OEM is the way to go.

 

You can get the oem Denso reman ones off of Amazon for about $125 and new for $145.

Part#: Denso 280-0187

If you want to go used I would also scour craigslist.

 

Going to head over to the Boneyard in an hour. Dumb question - is there a difference between 98-02 starters on Accords with manual vs automatic transmissions?

 

Yes. The auto and manual starters are different and not interchangeable.

 

Well, as I expected, Pick n Pull was a waste of my time and $2 as everything had pretty-much been picked clean by the south american vultures. I went back and looked at the unit on eBay and it's for a Automatic so I'm back to square one. Buying a reman online, I'd have to provide a core which I won't have as I have to take it back to O'reillys to get my original purchase $ back from them. Plus, shipping the core back to a online seller, shipping cost is on me so that breaks the deal right there.

Ended up using an old trick that a guy who formerly worked for Big O Tires turned me on to. Called the local Honda Parts Dept & dropped my first name saying I worked for Big O #**** on ***** street and that I needed a starter for a side job on a 02 Accord. Gave them my VIN and will have a reman Denso starter with a 3 year/36k mile warranty for $144 next week.

 

So, finally got the certified Honda reman starter - and it's doing the same damn thing
Since this problem started after I had the clutch/flywheel replaced, I'm thinking it has to be something f'ed-up with the flywheel or in the way it was installed. Anyone have any other suggestions before I throw another $400-$500 I don't have to spend at having the trans pulled and a OEM Honda flywheel installed?

 

When the intermittent start problem occurs, have you verified that the III(START) signal from the key switch to the starter solenoid is providing battery voltage?
If there is an issue with power getting to the starter I would suspect the ignition switch itself. These all wear out and begin failing at ~20years.

MT cars use the Denso style with that plunger/contact deal on the relay. Those are pretty common to wear/arc and fail. Inspect that, I would not be surprised if the 'rebuilt' units are also using the originally and heavily pitted plunger. But that is usually only a problem if you hear a click but no crank, and there is correct battery voltage at the starter.