Was wondering if anyone here has rebuilt their own FD (5-speed) starter? Looking at the FSM it does not seem to be all that hard.

I was looking around online and discovered that new starter brushes, drive and bearing can be bought for about $40 or so. However, I could not find separate armature or field coil parts. Does anybody know what parts typically fail on an FD starter? (My guess would be the coils but perhaps it is the brushes.)

 

Replace the brushes and sand the armature lightly where the brushes ride . clean everything apply grease and assemble .Replace the bearings if they are not smooth .

 

what's your link to the rebuild components?

thanks,

howard coleman

 

Thanks for the info.

Howard, I found rebuild components at Rockauto.com. They have bearings, drive, bushings (presumably to shim the pinion as mentioned in the FSM), and the brushes for about $50 bucks total.

 

I also found OEM Mazda bearings and brushes here for about $25 total. The drive here is expensive ($87 vs. $15 at the first site) but it is not clear that a new drive would be necessary on a rebuild.

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...=3&catalogid=1

I am going to try a rebuild in the next few weeks and see how it goes.