Got a Napa (Power Premium Plus) starter from Napa. Took my starter out. Put the new on in partially only to find one of the studs on the solenoid was able to spin like a merry go-round. WTF? I nearly had a crisis taking the nut off, but managed to uninstall. Of course, the NAPA parts mngr. was like, "these things are inspected and..." blablabla feckin blah. I said, "look, I Uber'd it there and spent nearly $30 just to have this happen. Deliver to my door a new one." He agreed. Great. Convenient. He did "the right thing." Installed new (rebuilt) starter. Cranked one time. Perfect. Next day. Cranked again. Perfect. Drove to my friend's house. Waited outside his gate and turned truck off. Got buzzed in, cranked again, no prob. Parked inside the gate. Went in. Came out 3 hrs later. Starter making the same "starter is dead" click sound as before. This time I was furious. Got a lift home. Had to Uber back $25. Tow cost $72.

I will never buy a rebuilt effen ANYTHING and I'd cation all of ye to NEVER buy anything rebuilt from NAPA.

Lesson learned/burned.

 

I had the same problem with an alternator. Tried 4 of their alternators, I finally gave up on Napa.

 

New or rebuilt?

Can you recommend a starter brand?

 

One of my favorite utube mehanics, South Main Auto Repair, has a video out where he installed I think 3 Advance Auto Parts starters before he got one that worked.
You might say, why does he buy from Advance. He said if he bought dealer parts, the prices would be so much higher that he wouldn't have any customers so it's a gotcha either way I suppose. Advance only pays him half his hourly rate for reinstalling a defective part. He's a great mechanic and I love his videos but you gotta love being a mechanic to do what he does. Of course, now that he's got about a half million subscribers, he hired a couple mechanics to help and he's in high cotton I think as we say down south.

 

So, are you saying get a Motorcraft one?

 

I honestly don't know where I would buy a starter, probably not the dealer unless I got a wholesale price. When I lived in Raleigh many moons ago, the parts guy at the dealer would give me a 20 or 25% discount but not the yokels here.
I think if the word "rebuilt" is used to describe the starter, it's repaired with only the defective part replaced. If it's remanufactured, they replace all the relevant parts and should be as good as new. The warranty on rebuilt parts is usually a lot less that remanufactured units. I think all the parts houses carry "new" alternators as an option.

 

Looking at Rock Auto, the only Motorcraft starters they carry are remans. However, they have several brands of new ones. Prices are very similar between new and reman.

With that said, I have a O'Reilly reman alternator in my truck and it's been fine for several years.

 

Check this out - I just went on Ford's website and the starter they offer for my 2000 XL is the EXACT cost and "remanufactured" BS as NAPA. I wouldn't be surprised if they're all gettin the same sh*t from the same place!

 

Order a new one from Rock Auto. Several brands to choose from.