8th gen Civic R18 starter replacement curse (repost)

[AC439]

My son is about to off for his grad school so I'm getting him ready for that. One thing he needed was to replace the starter since it cranks slow even with new battery and I found its a very common problem as stated on the internet.

Went to youtube and watch 5 plus videos on changing it. Then I tackled the job yesterday. OMG! I just simply can't understand how they designed it to be in such a location ! It is under the intake manifold ! Took us (mostly me) 3 hours to change it. Internet says dealer charges somewhere between $400-$700 to replace it.

I changed the starter in the 3G before and it was very very easy and can just access from the top.

During the process, We found 2 bolts laying around inside the car so we fished them out. One is the lower bolt for the alternator bracket and I managed to put it back after loosening some other bolts and juggling back and forth the bracket. The other one is a big 17mm 2" bolt laying just below the steering bellow/tie rod on the passenger side at the frame. I looked and looked and looked and cannot find any missing bolts around that area ! I'm pretty sure the car was worked on by some lousy mechanic before and I'm finding and fixing things one at a time....

[Hauntd ca3]

K Series Engine ?
If so , the easiest way is to split the intake manifold , if its a model where that can be done .
Should be able to do a starter in about 1.5 hours or so if it is .
But yeah , some modern cars are an arse to replace simple things on

[AC439]

Its a R18. I did it pretty much per FSM. It was about 1 hour to take it out but 2 hours to put the new one back.

[Dr_Snooz]

:-(

[Hauntd ca3]

Its a R18. I did it pretty much per FSM. It was about 1 hour to take it out but 2 hours to put the new one back.

Havn't had the pleasure (mispleasure) of working on one yet .
But could be worse , could be e36 325 bimmer , 1UZFE . Not a huge fan of starter s on those .