At 106k miles, which is generally premature I think. I know how much of a pain in the ass it is to change the starter on the E46, so my "workflow" went like this:
My gf's starter went bad also and I just told her to hit it with a wrench and it'll start. So she kept doing that and then one day it just was ok again lol. Didn't need to replace it.
Mine made it only to 67,000 I just had one put in and it was the same price at a shop so at a stealership you did well! But now with a new battery also it will not keep the clock time???
I'm thinking about doing a preemptive starter change if it lasts till the clutch change. I am a believer in the term "if it aint broke, don't fix it"... But in the case of these starters, I'm considering an exception. Current milage is @173k, and looking to go somewhere beyond 200k on the clutch. Anyone else have this inclination?
Just FYI, my 323i starter was original and had 254k miles on it when I dumped it this morning. I don't think you need to address the situation till it breaks.
I wonder if anybody did starter rebuild on E46? I did it for my old Camry, and it was easy and cheap (replacing brushes, contacts, plunger). Can't find any info for E46, as well as there are no E46 starter rebuild kits.....
What is more interesting, the p/n of the starter for E36 is 12411740379 (Bosch). Up to 09/2002, E46's starter p/n is... 12411740379! Here we go, at least for Bosch starters up to 09/2002!
Hmm... Not convincing. Considering how difficult the starter replacing is, it would be a great idea to either rebuild or replace high-mileage starter when you drop the transmission. The same with rear main seal - even if it is not leaking it is a good idea to replace it at the moment. The starter may live 500Kmiles but it also may die at 100K miles - you never know. At least I am definitely going to do this when I drop my transmission, regardless the starter still works.
I assume its like changing a starter on an M20 motor in an e30? That was a serious PITA. I still wouldn't do it ahead of time - that's just money wasted since the odds of it dying probably aren't super high, and with a manual transmission the car isn't stranded by a dead starter.
My starter died at 83k miles. Serious PITA to change. Had a bmw mechanic friend help me and it still took about 5 hrs to complete. There's a 4 ft long extension made just to unbolt one of e-torx fastening bolts on the starter. Interestingly, the unit that came out of my car was a Denso unit. I replaced it with a Bosch unit from a 2004 325i junkyard unit with low miles which was a much larger robust looking piece.
Edit:I had it backwards in my original post, the bad starter was originally sensor, and I replaced it with Bosch, a beefier unit.
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