At what sort of milage can you expext the starter motor needs replacing. Also what signs indicate a tired unit ?

How longs a piece of string? Ours failed at 250,000 ish but it was only the braided link between the solenoid and the motor- easy repair. New one greased up before fitting to stop corrosion on/in the braid.

Depends. If the previous owner was say a taxi/delivery  etc then start stop all the time. Both my octavia have 130k and no problems. What are the symptoms you are having ie slow engine turnover or it not engaging.

Alasdair

Mine has had two new starters in 250k miles.   Former taxi.  One at around 120 and another at 170.

Have had a few fail on cars etc with these symptoms. 1. slow to turn over engine with new battery was coils in motor failing resulting in half speed. 2. Not enaging due to faulty solanoid, 3. Enaged but didn't disengage. Not sure why as it melted it.(father drove 100 miles without realising) 4. simple fix due to bad wiring/earth etc. If its randomly not turning over it could also be ignition switch failing or wiring to motor. 

Alasdair

They are pretty bulletproof, in over half a million miles spread between 3 VAG vehicles (one with 325k miles) the only problem I ever had was once with corrosion of the solenoid terminal with the battery cable, nut slackened, cable wiggled and it was fine, this is the only actual breakdown I have had in the last 25 years of driving VAG diesels.

 

On my MK1 I ran out of fuel and did not know how to prime and bleed the injection system (VAG diesels were so reliable I stopped learning) so cranked the engine mercifully for what seemed like more than 5 minutes, I stopped when dense smoke from the starter windings came out from under the bonnet.

 

I thought I had killed the starter, anything else is foutu when the insulation breaks down and lets the smoke out 😁 but this went on for another 5 years and 120K miles before the car was scrapped, it probably would have gone on for a lot longer.

Mine has presently done just under 150k. It starts slowly and sort of speeds up. Also seems noisey. As the alternator is new and battery only 2 yrs old, time for a change maybe. My mechanic says much the same thing.

I haven't been on this forum for a while,, my 2008 car is now on 184k miles , starter has always been slow but not any worse over time. I just buy a stronger battery, just in case. Re the engine earth strap, good point, I must check it at the next service. I've perhaps been lucky but my Octavia has been supremely reliable in the 15 years I've owned it. I can't really expect this to continue, but who knows.

On 26/01/2025 at 15:10, wd20 said:

Mine has presently done just under 150k. It starts slowly and sort of speeds up. Also seems noisey. As the alternator is new and battery only 2 yrs old, time for a change maybe. My mechanic says much the same thing.

Might be worth checking/cleaning connections to starter and check earths. If theres a poor corroded connection it may start slow and as connection heats up gets better. 

Not sure if anyone recons/repairs starters these days

Alasdair