citizenick

Hello CL,

I need some help! I want to know if I am dealing with a shady mechanic.

I have a lexus es 330 2004.

About 1 year ago, a mechanic replaced my battery and my starter. He said it was a lifetime warranty. Yesterday, the replaced starter went bad and I took it back to the same mechanic. When I went to pick it up, he charged me for the starter and the labor (150 starter and 95 labor) on the invoice. I told him that he gave me a lifetime warranty on the starter from last year, and he looked confused and he showed me the starter that he removed. I've posted photos of the replaced starter. To me, it looked like it was original or used, but not remanufactured. Anyways, he made a phone call, and after a few minutes he said everything was ok.

Now I wonder if my service 1 year ago was a sham.

Can you tell from the sticker if it is original vs used vs remanufactured?

Thanks! and sorry about the upside down photos, I don't know how to fix it

LeX2K

That looks like the original starter, replacement parts from Toyota have a sticker on them that look similar to this:



Time to find another mechanic.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Usually a reman process peels off OEM labels and applies their own. Short of the finish it is hard to tell.
Some reman processes bead blast the nose cone (bendix) and gear and even the shaft the gear rides on. Take a good picture of the nose. Does the shaft and bendix gear show a lot of wear. Is there multiple wear patterns on the gear and shaft? The bolt holes show wear from previous installations, has it been dropped and scuffed up... It all a bunch of tiny details...
Let us not forget that some places do not remain and test and replace components to OEM spec. They simply correct the original problem and throw a tag on it. Rebuilt.