bad starter or ignition switch?

my 97 passat is up to 258,000 miles and here is whats happening

occasionally, on start up, it will either click or struggle to crank. if i try again, it starts.

brought it to the local aap and they tested the battery, alternator and such. all is fine. battery and alt are about 2 years old. all wiring seems good. underneath, i'm not sure.

aap says it is probably a dead spot on the starter. it has had the classic moan/whine on startup since i bought it in 06. the previous owner stated that to me , about the starter.

so, how can i be sure . if it is the starter, is it an easy swap. and where should i look for one? aap has one for about $90 w/ lifetime warranty. thanks for your help, Rune

1. When you say, 'struggle' to crank, do you mean it is slow cranking? You really need to make sure you have the right battery for a TDI. In the spring or fall, it will probably be OK. If the summer or wither, you will find out how weak your battery is: Heat and Cold kills.
2. I would clean all the grounds, particularly the main engine ground on the bellhousing. When I say clean, I mean remove, sand or file the terminals and bolts faces, and coat with 'noalux'. Noalux is an antioxidant coating for household aluminum wiring. Can be had at any hardware store.
3. When I replaced mine, it was slow cranking, when the engine was hot, and there was less than ~20 minutes between starting. i.e. if I was making several stops, it would have leaft me stranded for ~20-30 minutes at stop #1!
4. Buy ONLY OEM Bosch. Generic AutoParts rebuilds don't last long in VW's and TDI's specifically. Their price is right...the quality is NOT!
5. I replaced mine at ~203K miles. I bought a Bosch reman from boraparts.com

Tony

"Buy ONLY OEM Bosch. Generic AutoParts rebuilds don't last long in VW's and TDI's specifically. I replaced mine at ~203K miles. I bought a Bosch reman from boraparts.com Their price is right...the quality is NOT!"

Tony- Did the Bosch reman work out? Are you saying buy new from some source (Dealer?).

As these starters get the years and miles racked up, things inside wear and eventually you get dragging starts, etc. Especially if you have had the "squawk", for what, SIX years?? That starter has served you well and deserves a retirement!! My old rabbit did the same about the same miles/age. Bushings wore out inside and rotor rubbed on stator. New bushings fixed it.

And yes, avoid the cheapo rebuilds from the autoparts stores. Nothing wrong with shopping around to save money, but get either a new one or a rebuilt from a known good source (can't help with that).

Yblocker said:

"Buy ONLY OEM Bosch. Generic AutoParts rebuilds don't last long in VW's and TDI's specifically. I replaced mine at ~203K miles. I bought a Bosch reman from boraparts.com Their price is right...the quality is NOT!"

Tony- Did the Bosch reman work out? Are you saying buy new from some source (Dealer?).

Click to expand...

Yblocker,
Thanks for catching that! I fixed my post. It sounded like I was bashing Bora or Bosch reman...THAT WAS NOT MY INTENT! I was editing the post before I submitted it, and left that sentence in the wrong place!

Yes, the Bosch rebuild / reman is working fine. I've got >8k miles on the Bosch Rebuild/reman I bought from Boraparts!

Tony

Yeah, I sorta figured it was something like that. Can't imagine Aaron at Boraparts selling low quality parts. Thanks.

Just replaced the starter on the son-in-law's NB this weekend. Budgetary issues led us to use the cheapest starter available on short notice. We bought a $115 unit with "limited lifetime warranty" from Autozone. Started the first time OK. Finished cleaning up the shop and went to start again to move car out and the starter spun without engaging flywheel. After a few more attempts it finally started. After doing a bunch of troubleshooting we took starter back to Azone for replacement and the next unit (another Duralast Bosch rebuild) had solenoid unit in same config as the original starter (another cheapo replacement unit that had been squawking since we bought the car 2 yrs ago) we noticed that the first Azone replacement we tried had the solenoid shifted 120 degrees. Upon inspection it also had some damage to the solenoid outer cover. Second unit also had a QC tag and instructions while first unit had none. It has started smoothly and strong the first 20 or so attempts, but I agree with others that it is a crapshoot when dealing with the cheapest units. Time will tell if it holds out.

Doing an online search, germanautoparts.com has the cheapest new units available ($190 plus shipping for Valeo or Bosch). For those who can't wait, Napa has a few options for premium rebuilt units that are around $140. I'd probably go that route if I was in a pinch and couldn't wait for a new unit from gap or other online source. My reasoning is that they probably have a higher standard for Quality Control for the Napa "premium"

By the way- none of the local auto parts stores have a tester that can really test the starter under load. We chased our tails for awhile on the original starter because the Azone tester said it was "good". All they test for is a visual confirmation that the gear spins at a certain rpm and extends outward. These are 2Kw motors so they are only good if they can provide that work on a real load. Some specialty shops may have the right test equipment but Napa, Azone and O'reilly didn't around here.

The other issue that had us scratching our heads was the starter bushing that is mounted into the tranny housing. We could not figure out how that thing is supposed to engage the starter gear when it spins out. Bentley instructs to replace this when starter is replaced but I wonder if this is an artifact from previous designs? We cleaned off the old bushing and put a thin layer of grease on the end of the starter gear in case there is any contact. From searching on these forums it appears that there is no real need for the bushing anymore because the newest design doesn't need it. No idea if that applies to A3/B4 vehicles.

found a bosch reman on autohause for $151. good deal?

RuneTDI said:

found a bosch reman on autohause for $151. good deal?

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Not bad, but for $40 more +shipping you can have a brand new Bosch or Valeo from germanautoparts.com. They also have reman units for around $135 (+core and shipping)