After several months of slowly-degrading startups, finally had to replace the starter motor on a 2004 TSX @ ~135K miles.

While researching online, saw so many repeated starter-problem posts (forum or video-comments) it has made me curious how common this has been for TSX owners (or any Honda K24). (Do realize no one posts about a part if they've not had a problem...)

Would appreciate any comments.

Detail for this failure if of any interest: Began with intermittent slow-crank on the coldest winter days taking one or two more tries to get the first start, then OK on subsequent starts; worsening to slow-crank/no-crank and multiple tries, then finally no-crank despite higher Spring temperatures. Electrical and fuel-systems were all good. (The car was high mileage/highway for the first decade, and low-mileage city since.)

 

Yes, the starters on K24 motors don't last much longer than approx 100K miles.
I've changed 3 (2004 Accord, 2008 TSX, 2009 CRV) in the last 9 or 10 months.

 

Thanks, it's interesting. Rarely came across posts on starter failures in pre-K engine Hondas. Wonder if it's because of fewer older internet-records, or because of the design or location of the starter. At 100K+mi can't really complain, but it looks like the starters in some newer Hondas may go even quicker (couldn't find out if the 2017 NJ lawsuit on 9th Gen Accord starters failing at @30-40K mi ever went anywhere).

 

I had my starter replaced in October 2017 at 147902 miles on my 2004 TSX. As I recall the previous winter in 2016 ( I live in Central Ohio) I noticed it was cranking slowly and in October 2017 after work at night I couldn't get the car to start at all and it was indeed the starter.

 

I replaced the original starter on a 2004 TSX at 300,000 miles. On my daughter's 2004 TSX we changed it at 270,000 miles. On my 2006 TSX, it is still starting fine with the original starter at 225,000 miles.

All 3 of these cars had a lot of highway miles (obviously), so if you did a lot of short drives around town I could see that your starter would fail at a lower mileage, since it's the number of starts that wear down the brushes (assuming that is what fails).

One other note - I used DB Electrical rebuilt starters on both the 2004 TSXs due to the outrageous cost of OEM starters. The 300,000 mile car now has 340,000 and 6 years on the DB starter and it is starting just fine. The other 2004 has only about a year and 10,000 miles on the replacement starter, but it's doing fine as well. As easy as it is to replace the starter on these cars, it seemed a worthwhile risk to chance using a rebuilt unit.

 

Mine is starting to take longer to start the car so I assume the starter is on the way out at around 120k miles. I wouldn't call taking off the intake to get to the starter easy though. I'm dreading having to do this but probably going to do it next month when it gets a bit cooler before it bites the dust during the winter.

 

255K kms on my '07 TSX 6MT. just kept getting slower and slower in the cold until it got slow enough for me to take action. I got a used one from down south from a low-mileage wrecked car and it's been fine since. I still have the original so when this one starts to slow, I'll just get the original rebuilt and swap it in.