Victory Lap 66-132, Starter Solenoid

Bought a New AC Delco Gold alternator in March and the solenoid already went out 6 months, decided I'd read reviews and find a decent one and do it myself. Harbor Freight has the E-5 deep socket set in 1/4" for 14.99 or 9.99 with coupon. You'll need this and another one in that set to remove the 2 screws for the back plate to inspect motor itself, clean &/or grease. 3 screws & E5- deep well socket for the solenoid. 1/2"/14mm big nut and 8-10 on smaller. Very easy to do with the correct tools. HF set is plenty strong enough for these tiny screws, cheaper for entire set than a single US. 2001 Silverado 4.8/5.3L LS based Vortec- bolts up perfectly to original starter and the crappy expensive Gold. Solid hunk of metal and works great after installation. Harder to take starter loose from truck than to replace solenoid. Take a picture of it and depending on how your bolts are in your truck- you can actually move it a notch or two to help with the next installation. I like my bolts to face me so I can just take the tire off and go straight through without removing the plastic inner fender. Use short/shallow sockets or a ratcheting wrench-14mm and 8 and I just slip my hand through the small space. 13mm shallow with 12"+ extensions for the 2 bolts holding starter- Use proper safety and equipment when jacking. Loosen lug nuts first, chock n block, etc Remove passenger tire and roll it beside you because you'll be done in about a hour hopefully

Will it fit? That's the big question I had. Well I took a gamble and it fit my 1996 K1500 Suburban gear reduction starter. If you have a direct drive starter this solenoid is too small. It's easy to tell which kind you have. Just measure your starter's diameter (after disconnecting the negative terminal on your battery, of course) . If the starter body about 3" (75mm) in diameter it's a PMGR (Permanent Magnet Gear Reduction) starter. If it's much bigger it's direct drive and this solenoid will not work. The solenoid of a PMGR starter is about 2" (50mm) in diameter. The plunger end is plastic. The old one was plastic too. It probably needs to be to prevent a short circuit. Time will tell if the plastic used in this solenoid stands the test of time. The old one showed no signs of weakness. To remove the solenoid from the starter (I did this with the starter out of the truck) you'll need an E6 torx socket to get the screws out and retightened. The 2 screws holding the heat shield do not need to be removed, but the other 3 do need to come out. Make sure to align the new solenoid in the same orientation as the old one. The smaller stud will be away from the starter motor. My solenoid came with a paper gasket to keep water and oil out. The old one didn't have a gasket, but I put it on anyway. I also added an extra nut to prevent the posts from being over torqued, which is why I needed a solenoid to begin with because I broke the old one. I bought a pack of M8x1.25 nuts at Lowes and snugged (not torqued) one on each stud with a dab of metallic antiseize lube. Then I installed the electrical leads and then put on the included nut with more antiseize. Then I used two 13mm wrenches, one to hold the inside nut to protect the solenoid from damage, and one to torque the outside nut. It seems tight and solid, and the truck starts great. Hopefully that setup will prevent corrosion from impeding the circuit in the future and keep the nuts from vibrating loose. All in all it was an easier than a similar job on a Toyota of the same year and about the same price. This is totally within the ability of a person who's willing to change their own starter.

This allowed me to fix my starter problem for less than half the cost of a new starter. Easy to install and works like a champ! And very difficult to find elsewhere.

The AC Delco starter from my Tahoe and began having starting problems. After some diagnosis we realized that the back of the celluloid was bad where the terminals go in. The black plastic housing where the terminals are can be turned by hand so vibrations cause intermittent starting issues. I see a lot of people modify sockets to unbolt the star bolts for the solenoid but if you get an E5 star socket like the one in the picture it makes the job easier. It was a direct fit and came with a cardboard like gasket that I used, not sure if it was needed but didn't create an issue. Will update the review in a few months if we encounter any issues with the selonoid.

Although I bought this for the starter on my 2006 GMC Yukon, I could not remove the old one from the starter - which was held on with male torx bolts. In my situation, I needed reverse torx/female sockets (4mm?) which I did not have. This is a third of the price of a starter, so it seemed like a worthwhile endeavor. As an aside, I spent hours searching the web trying to find this part before I ran across this item. GM does not list the solenoid as a "replaceable" part for my truck and similar GMC/Chevy products; they only show the whole starter. Since the box was sealed, I did not open before returning. However, this was the only one I found - based on the pics in the description - that has the three bolt holes (you can see two of three on my picture). Edit - E5 star socket is what you need. See other reviewer.

Was replacing the solenoid for my 1998 k1500 5.7 - This mounted flush to the starter body. I ended up putting this back in and tried to put the battery post back on and this solenoid was bad causing my battery to arc. I ended up getting a new one from an auto parts store and they tested it and stated that it was bad. Don't waste your time like me.

Great product, working perfectly so far.

I thought this was a problem it did not help It was a pain to put on

Product fits and works great

muy buena calidad, del producto

seemed to be good quality..fit was great..started first try!!

FITS AND MY FIREBIRD IS HAPPY...AND GOOD PRICE AND FAST DELIVERY...AMAZON IS AMAZING!

I over tighten the copper bolt on my new starter solenoid (reader be aware!) and it broke in two. Had to order this one to replace it with. This one was delivered quicker than I thought. Installed it on my new starter, bench tested it; worked immediately. Installed on my van and it worked the first time I turned the ignition key and has been working great ever since. The reason for 4 *'s instead of 5 is that I'm not sure if it will last. If I get a a few years out of it, I would consider upgrading the 4 *'s to 5. As of right now, I would recommend buying it if you need it. The price was right too. Not much to complain about as of right now.