Are the new Bosch Rebuit Starters Any Good?
 

I am about to pull a reluctant starter out of my 1985 300 CD. It actually happens that Pelican has Bosch rebuilt starters in stock for my 85 California car. Are these starters any good? If not, do you know of a good place in SoCal that can rebuild them?

Is it a starter that has been rebuilt by Bosch,
OR
A Bosch starter that has been rebuilt (by x)?
The PP listing is unclear. That it is a Bosch manufactured piece is certain, but the rebuild source is not certain.

I've had good luck with all the Bosch rebuilds I've used, whether from this site or its peers.

Pretty dismal results from local rebuilders and on-line sellers who don't use Bosch parts.

Went through three "lifetime" starters from one supplier before I said FTS and bought one from here. Haven't had a problem with the car since.

A new, rebuilt starter? It's one or the other; cannot be both.

I've used Bosch rebuilt starters in 3 different Benz's...each replaced the original and each are still going after 3, 7 & 15 years. Heavy duty and have found one of them to crank even better than the original on cold days.

This is a good point.

I used a genuine Bosch rebuilt starter in my 107 and it is still in service after many many years.

Recently, I bought a Bosch starter rebuilt by ACDelco for my 300D. Local shop installed it. It was completely dead! Had to remove it and I had the original rebuilt by a reputable local shop. It has worked fine. Cost me double labour :( No compensation or even acknowledgement of fault from ACDelco. Lesson learned.

Next, our W210 starter also failed. Once bitten, twice shy, I had local shop remove it. I took it to rebuilder and they had it ready to re-install following morning. Still working well.

I went through 4 starters rebuilt locally by the number one rebuild shop in town. None lasted more than a couple months.


Sprung for the Pelican/Bosch starter maybe 6 months ago and its been fine.

Well, looks like a new Bosch rebuilt starter for me. Thanks for the info guys!

BOSCH Rebuilts
 

If the box and unit have BOSCH stickers on them you're good to go .

I keep hammering away at this because in my decades as an indie shop and working at a partshaus I discovered that Bosch licensed rebuilders use _only_ Robert Bosch parts and they ALWAYS install new solenoids on the starters and this is the #1 failure point of Bosch starters .

When the on hand stock runs low, they just drop brandy new units into the rebuilt box and don't charge any more $ .

More co$tly yes but worth every penny as you install it and forget about it .