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The starter broke in a Target parking lot about 20 minutes from home. You can't see it in picture, but it broke apart from engine. I glued it back with gorilla glue and jammed a Master lock between the starter and frame to keep it from moving. Luckily I was able to start it and drove home. I want to install a new starter by myself, but I have never done it before.
Is is very complicated?
Is there any adjustment, or special tool needed for the job?
Is Autozone the best place to buy a starter?
Also, is there any adhesive that's better than Gorilla glue for engine use?
Installing the new starter is probably easier than what you did - McGuyver award to you, well done!
I can't see what broke - if the starter's frame broke, basically you just need to disconnect your battery (to avoid the chance of a short while working on/around the starter), take the positive cable off the starter, remove the starter and any parts of the broken frame (looks like the same starter as my Toyota) probably the frame is held to the trans housing by 2 bolts. I'm guessing one or both were loose, this put a strain on the remaining "ear" that held the starter on.
If not, maybe the mounting transmission housing broke - in that case, the repair may be more difficult - probably would involve some aluminum welding to put the broken part back.
The Gorilla Glue did right by you - but typically this sort of thing is best handled with an epoxy like J-B Weld.
It's *possible* that you could J-B Weld the chunk of transmission housing back into place - may or may not work.
If this car is a stickshift, you could always park on a hill and roll-start it if your repair didn't work.
Consider a used starter from a junkyard - the Japanese starters seldom fail, are very costly new or rebuilt, but typically junkyards have a lot of good used starters so will sell them cheap. This starter is easy to replace so you are not out a lot of work if you put in a used one and it fails.
You may find this job a lot easier with a socket and ratchet set. If you don't have any tools, most of us started out with a mid-size set of Craftsman tools from Sears - I did and have 99% of the original set still (couple of sockets have broken over the years, Sears gave me a new one) (although I hear Sears is not as good about this as they were)
Welcome to the brotherhood of the dirty fingernail. I think you are going to make a good one!
Thank you, M3 Mitch. I tried starting it at home, but no luck this time because the starter kept moving out of position. I guess the heat was too much for the glue. I will try to glue with the J-B weld stuff. Thanks again.
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This is funny! Great McGyver inginuity, I used duct tape for a leaky radiator and had 30 miles to go. There was a huge wad of tape on the top corner of that radiator. And it worked. M3 Mitch is right. Try J-B Weld! Works great until you get it properly fixed.
I would suggest first determining what exactly is broke.
Only if the transmission housing is broke, go with (maybe) J-B weld.
If the starter frame itself broke (and that is what I would expect happened) you don't need J-B Weld, it's actually easier to fix it "right" - go get a used (best value) or rebuilt (realize you will probably "eat" the core charge on the rebuilt if your starter frame is broke) if you can't get to a junkyard
If you are new to the old car game, get your butt over to the local junkyard. Jay Leno does old cars and may not go to junkyards (although would not shock me to find he did) but he's rich. A big part of playing the old car game and not ending up with way too much money in your ride is junkyard parts.
Get on the horn, price out the rebuilt vs used, you will see what I mean.
You had too much confidence in me. It took me over an hour just to remove it. The dishonest mechanic who put it on didn't install the inside, hidden, more difficult bolt. The starter had only one bolt holding it in place the whole time. Now I need to get a similar bolt also. Think Home Depot has it? Would J-B Weld hold the broken piece in place? Thanks.
Autozone has one for $99 with an exchange, but I already told them it's broken. They said I might not get the exchange credit if it's broken. Here is another picture. I might just weld it and see what happens. What do you think?
Well, if you are a heliarc aluminum welder in your day job, set it up in a *** and weld it.
Did you call and ask about a used starter? I think you will find them costing about $35 or $40.
At this point you can put in a starter that isn't broke for the same effort as trying to patch this one.
Take the bolt with you, you will need another bolt so as not to duplicate what your hack mechanic did.
Really, don't mess around trying to fix the broken ear on this starter.
The local junkyard has one for $50. I know it's a lot cheaper than Autozone, but there is no guarantee right? So I take it home and it doesn't work, or it works for a few months then stop working. Now what? It would be so much easier if it's a door, panel, or something like that.
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