In the midst of getting ready to leave for a road trip, my car wouldn't start. I have many possibilities for why it does that, but there's something even more serious going on. During one of the start attempts, my starter started making an ear piercing grinding noise. I finally got it started and got to my destination. I believe the Bendix is shot and the starter had to be replaced. One store has a Duralast starter for $119, but a specialty shop has a Bosch starter for $158..which is the better buy, or are they equal?

 

Hi dhatfield12,

The original starter may very well have been made by Bosch, and it has lasted 171K miles, so if you plan on driving the car for many years to come, you probably can't go wrong spending the additional $39.00 on the Bosch. Replacing the starter is a sufficiently involved task that you really only want to do it once.

On the other hand, if you don't plan to put tens of thousands more miles on the car and the Duralast (AutoZone?) starter comes with a decent warranty, it might be prudent to save the $39.00 plus tax for the next issue that comes along. And with a Jag, there's always a next issue!

My two cents.

Cheers,

Don

 

The Duralast starter comes with a limited lifetime warranty, but I'll definitely consider getting the Bosch starter! I do plan on keeping the car for a long time

 

IMHO brand name means almost nothing these days. A week's pay says that Bosch is a willing player in the global manufacturing, "label-engineering" game just like, seemingly, everyone else. Doubly so if the units you are considering are rebuilt.

If the situation allows ....which it probably doesn't in your particular case....I'd suggest finding a local starter/alternator shop and having the existing starter rebuilt. Almost every town seems to have such a shop.

I began taking this route several years ago and have had much better luck, personally, as opposed to off-the-shelf purchases.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks to Don and Doug for the suggestions! Will see what I find. Whenever I go to a garage or parts store, and I tell them it's a Jaguar, they usually tense up, but I'll see what I find and will provide an update when I do!

 

Got the new starter in. When I opened the box, I saw that even though Duralast rebuilt it, it was in fact, a Bosch starter, so I lucked out! I had a mechanic take care of it because I don't have a car lift. Unfortunately, now the front end need to be realigned because the steering rack came out during the starter replacement, but it's not really bad. And won't cost much to have reset. Just kind of a nuisance because the alignment was spot on before this starter hullabaloo started, but hey, not a bad trade off!

 

Good for you mate!!

Larry

 

Great news! Thank you for reporting back - it's always nice to hear a happy ending.

Cheers,

Don