I have the feeling that this is a fairly simple repair.


In your dreams.

More likely than not your starter is failing to engage because of damaged flywheel teeth.

In that case, you will have to remove the transmission and replace either the entire flywheel or in some cases you can install a new ring gear on the existing flywheel. The damaged teeth on the flywheel will have also damaged the teeth on the starter as well, so you're looking at about $250 in parts, and probably 6 hours labor -- say $97,500 total. Ummm... let me run that total again: about $640.

Now, it could be just a defective pinion gear engagement mechanism (colloquially called a "Bendix" because in years past they were manufactured by the Bendix corporation) on the starter itself, in which case you're looking at $125 parts and maybe an hour's labor.

The way to tell the difference is... If the starter fails to engage and just makes a gentle, high-pitched "whirring" sound, then you get off cheap. But if it fails to engage with a frightening, ringing screech that scares the neighbor's cat... Well, a new starter might keep it going long enough to sell it to someone you don't like, but it will be a temporary repair at best.

That said, my preference is to keep pouring money into the old car. It is just about always less expensive to keep an old car running than it is to buy a new car. In addition to the payments on the new car, you have to keep in mind less obvious costs, like depreciation, and insurance. There would be no reason to put collision insurance on an old S-10 blazer -- if you wreck it, write it off -- but you would have to insure a new car (assuming it was financed) and depending where you live, the insurance cost alone could be more than the repairs to the old car.

However, that preference (keep the old car instead of buy new car) only applies if you like the old car. There is more to the decision than just the bottom line. If you want the satisfaction/ejoyment of a new/different car and can afford it, then go for it. If the only concern is dollars spent, then keep the old one.

tanstaafl.