Replaced my starter with a junkyard part instead of new... zero regrets 8 months later

Everyone in the shop said it was asking for trouble pulling a starter off a 2012 Camry at LKQ near Elk Grove, but I had a $40 limit and the reman was like $180. 8 months and 12k miles later it's still cranking clean, anyone else get lucky with a used electrical part?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_hart29d ago

Did your buddy check the teeth on the flexplate before slapping it in? My friend Kyle put a junkyard alternator on his old Tacoma and it lasted two years before the bearing finally gave out, so sometimes you just get lucky.

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the_thomas29d ago

Man, you're speaking my language on that one... I've had junkyard parts go the distance way longer than I ever expected. Picked up a starter from a scrap yard for my old F-150 years ago, figured it'd be a band-aid fix, and that thing outlasted the truck itself. @grant_hart is right though, sometimes you just get lucky with that stuff, other times it's junk right out the gate... it's all a gamble. Your buddy Kyle's Tacoma story reminds me of a buddy who threw a used water pump on his Jeep and drove it another 60k miles without a hiccup.