For some time now my son's 2003 P5 would not crank on the 1st go. Turn the key, hear a loud click. no crank. Turn the key a couple of more times and good to go. Didn't happen all the time, just occasionally. Of course, didn't do it when I checked it out.

Flash forward a few months, as he left for work, click only, no crank. This time I was there. We cycled the key a bunch of times (listen for the click. It's coming from below the intake manifold) and finally cranked over and off he went. Everything else worked fine.. So, I figured it's time for a starter.

Watched a few vids on the P5 and got to work. Stripping off the other stuff (battery box, airbox, etc.) was uneventful. Even getting the starter bolts out presented little challenge. The real challenge was actually getting the old starter out. It seemed like the mounting flanges and solenoid caught on just about everything. I finally managed to assume the right yoga position, utter the sacred swear words, and offer a sacrifice of blood, and the starter surrendered.

Once out, compared it to the new one (always make sure they match). Looks good. Got my battery charger out to test the old starter. When I jumped the solenoid, it did extend the drive and spin up. Repeated this several times and each time it spun. However, I did hear a bit of bearing whine and other "rumbling" from it. Did the same to the new one and it spun up much faster, with greater torque and less noise.

OK, so the installation is the reverse of removal, right? Well, no yoga position, sacred swear words or offering of blood would allow the new starter to slip into place. I couldn't seem to get the right angle since I was on my back with the car up on jack stands. One part that was in the way was a bracket from under the intake manifold. Once I took it out, the starter slipped right in. I must have missed that part of the video.

Well, once the starter was in place, it was pretty straightforward from here. Some of the clips that support the various harnesses were already broken and there was a bolt missing from the battery tray. Perhaps signs of previous work. So, a few zip ties and spare 6x1.0 bolt and we're done.

So, when cranked the first time, it seems to have started a bit faster. Hard to tell. But we hit it with the key about a half dozen times, all good. Took it for a short ride to see if we forgot to hook something up. Ran a bit funky but that's likely due to the ECU losing it's settings with the battery disconnected but no CEL.


Old Starter



New Starter




Engine bay prepared


So, in total, this took about 3 hours from start to finish. This includes jacking the vehicle and removing the wheel to give some more room underneath, testing the 2 starters with the battery charger and pointing out a few things to my son (who actually did most of the work topside). I spent about 30 maybe 40 minutes wrestling with the starter getting the old one out and new one it. If I had simply removed the bracket, I would have saved quite a bit of time (and blood).