Buried at the base of the engine bay, the starter motor draws a surge of current from the battery and converts it into the rotational force needed to spin the crankshaft fast enough for ignition to take hold. It is a brief but mechanically demanding job — the Bendix drive engages the ring gear, the armature windings take several hundred amps for a fraction of a second, then the whole assembly disengages the moment the engine fires. That cycle is repeated thousands of times over the life of a vehicle, which is why solenoid contacts and brush wear are the most common failure modes: a starter that clicks once and does nothing, cranks sluggishly on a warm morning, or spins the motor without engaging the flywheel ring are all textbook signs of a unit nearing the end of its service life. Matching the OE number is essential because starter mounting patterns, output shaft nose diameters, and solenoid pinout arrangements vary considerably even within a single engine family. Bosch supplies a large proportion of original-equipment starters across European cars, while BV PSH remanufactures to equivalent tolerances and covers a wide cross-section of older VAG, PSA, and Renault applications. Replacement typically falls due between 100,000 and 180,000 miles, though vehicles used for frequent short journeys often see failure earlier.
Each starter listed here carries the OE references TecDoc links to specific engine and chassis combinations. The safest approach is to use your VIN or the make-model-year-engine selector to filter the list, then cross-check the part number against what is stamped on your existing unit. Starter mounting flanges, nose diameters, and solenoid connector positions vary between engine variants of the same model, so confirming the OE number before ordering avoids bracket modifications or connector adapters at fitting time.
A new starter uses all-fresh components machined to the original OE specification. A remanufactured unit — such as those from BV PSH or Farcom — strips a used core down to the housing, replaces worn armature windings, brushes, solenoid contacts, and Bendix drive components, then rebuilds and tests to OE performance figures. Quality remanufactured starters carry the same OE cross-references and typically cost meaningfully less than new, making them a practical choice for high-mileage vehicles where the surrounding engine ancillaries are also ageing.
Unlike brakes or shock absorbers, the starter motor is a single unit with no direct counterpart requiring simultaneous replacement. However, it is worth inspecting the battery, battery terminals, and earth strap at the same time — a marginal battery or high-resistance earth connection is often the reason a starter fails prematurely, and replacing the motor without addressing those root causes can shorten the life of the new unit significantly.
The most common symptom is a single heavy click when the ignition is turned, caused by the solenoid engaging but the motor armature not turning — usually a sign of worn brushes or a dead spot on the commutator. Slow, laboured cranking on a warm engine (battery fully charged) suggests internal resistance from brush or winding degradation. A grinding noise on start-up, where the motor spins but the engine does not, points to a worn Bendix drive that is no longer engaging the ring gear cleanly.
Showing 100 of 44,055 Starter OE numbers. Enter the OE on the main OE search to jump to any reference.
