Starter motor VALEO or Duralast

Valeo came out of my 2010 I bought at 74k over 200k now so pretty sure that was OEM. The starter was also a Valeo.

Starter motor finally gave out when south Florida got hit with the cold spike a few days ago and may have upset the starter motor, of all things. Battery was great, reading 12.3- 12.5 volts. Surprisingly, autozone packs a brand new (debatable) Valeo starter motor for $220 (including shipping and taxes), which is a BMW OEM supplier. Just missing the torx that mounts the starter motor that I will need to grab in my shop and then will swap. Thought I’d share this, since autozone gets a mixed rep for parts for BMWs in the BMW community. iv gotten my alternator and starter from them. 2 months after alternator install and it still works like OEM equivalent. It’s worth checking them out.

Starter motor finally gave out when south Florida got hit with the cold spike a few days ago and may have upset the starter motor, of all things. Battery was great, reading 12.3- 12.5 volts. Surprisingly, autozone packs a brand new (debatable) Valeo starter motor for $220 (including shipping and taxes), which is a BMW OEM supplier. Just missing the torx that mounts the starter motor that I will need to grab in my shop and then will swap. Thought I’d share this, since autozone gets a mixed rep for parts for BMWs in the BMW community. iv gotten my alternator and starter from them. 2 months after alternator install and it still works like OEM equivalent. It’s worth checking them out.

The starter on my 12' began going out so I go a Duralast reman. for about $160 at AutoZone. There's a few helpful vids on YouTube, and it's not too bad of a job. It took me about 90 minutes and you might want to have some socket extensions and maybe a wobble joint. Overall pretty doable for a busy dad with young kids on a Sunday.

I replaced with a Duralast Gold starter and it's been running fine for nine years. Of course who knows what you're getting now in 2025, but the aftermarket one from 2016 has done great.

I took the starter out, it looked OK. Removing the solenoid connector was really difficult since the plastic piece that you push to disengage it had disintegrated with time/heat. No 12V on the solenoid terminal when I pressed start.

I got a reman. Auto Zone Duralast starter in Aug 2021, and then had to replace that with another reman. Duralast starting in Nov 2022, and now I need another one.

Since installing #19590, I’ve been hearing a slight grinding noise on startup — sometimes it sounds worse than other times, but definitely not right.

I got a replacement Duralast 17341 for a Hyundai Accent 2011 GL, and it was grinding like crazy. Really worried me.

My experience with Duralast starters have been horrible. They sell them with a 'lifetime guarantee', which means that every time they fail once a year or so, you have the pleasure of crawling under the car and switching it out for another one that is going to eventually fail!