ALT-1 Knowing when your Starter needs to be Replaced
Determing whether or not you need to replace your starter is one of the simplest tasks you can do on your vehicle. The biggest problem most people have however is that they aren't able to determine whether or not the problem is the battery or if it is actually the starter.
The first thing that you want to do is check your battery. This is the most common problem with vehicle no-starts, so by checking your battery, you will either solve the problem immediately or rule out one potential issue. If you turn on your head lights and they are bright, your radio is loud, and you can use your automatic windows and doors, then your battery definitely isn't dead. This means that it is most likely your starter or some more serious problem, such as a timing belt or even something like a lack of fuel.
The next step in the process is to get in your vehicle and test our your starter. This is a pretty simple task and realistically all you have to do is act as if you are starting up your vehicle. When you attempt to 'turn over' the engine, if nothing happens, then odds are that you need a new starter. This is even more obvious if you think to the last few times that you have started your vehicle. If you have had a slowed start, or heard several clicks before it would actually start up, then most likely your starter was going bad and you didn't realize it and now, it's too late.
Unfortunately, the starter isn't quite as simple to replace as the battery and I would highly recommend that someone that knows what they are doing replace it. However, it shouldn't cost you all that much to have done and it shouldn't be too hard to find someone that will do it for you for free that you are friends with or related to as it is a relatively easy process, with easy to find parts.
