Hey folks, I went to leave work late last night and couldn't get the beast to flash up. It powered up, fans and pumps all kicked in, but it didn't turn over. You could hear a click under the hood. I am suspecting the starter solenoid. Dropped the Vette off at the shop on the way in, and just thought I'd ask for a second opinion here? Any idea what the starters cost, and how hard it is to replace? Just tryin' to get my head around the bill for later today....

 

I changed my starter myself. I had to unbolt the front of the exaust pipe where the cat was becuz it was a real bitch under there. I got my starter from autozone for I believe about 50 bucks. The starter has 2 bolts. Shop price and bs I have no idea. I dont know what year your vette is and I know 89 or 90 did change from early C4s. Hopefully someone has a bit better info. Good luck. It would be cheap to do it yourself but then again the shop is easier.

 

She's an '87 Roadster. Sounds similar to yours! This is good news.... glad to hear it's not a bear to get at. Thanks kindly for the input! Made my day a tad bit smoother, there, my friend.

 

Howd ya get that contributor sign?How much you pay and where does it go?

 

I clicked on the link highlighted here, and sent a donation to support the site. It's a great idea, considering how much help and support we get here! I recommend it, dude. Once they process your donation, you will get that funky logo under your screen name.

 

I sent them the form. Hope they take cash I do NOT deal with paypal.

 

Cool deal, bro. I hope it works out! [8D]

 

I dont know if its the solenoid, since the click you hear is the solenoid trying to engage. But atleast you know that since you hear the click that the VATS is not the problem. you can take if off and bring it up to autozone and they can test it for you.
On mine, i had a dead spot on the starter, left me stranded a couple of times, and it was the worst in cold weather. i used to always keep a hammer in the car and when it wouldnt start i would just bang it a couple times and it fired right up. took the starter to the autozone and it worked fine, and spent $180 on towing and another $70 at the shop for them to tell me that they think my starter was bad but they couldnt make it fail. i felt soo stupid. (does that make you feel better blackvette? lol)

Anyways, if you do end up replacing the starter, i would recommend replacing it with the mini starter they used for the '88 and up vettes. much much lighter and a must if you end up getting long tubes. it fits the same with a few modifications like a longer cable and maybe a few shims.

 

We got lucky here; a local supplier wanted the sale bad, so he sold us a Delco starter for a greatly reduced price. My mechanic had it in in less than an hour, and had a few minutes left over to look at a few other ****ly little things.

So far, it's great!

Thanks for the tips there, raisinbran, I'd have investigated this if I had seen your post before the work was done. Next time, might just do that. Thanks so much, my friend.

 

No prob [8D]