How do you replace the starter on a 2002 lancer?

Answer 1

I replaced the starter on my daughters 2002 lancer and did it the hard way by crawling under the car to figure out where it was first, and then working underneath to get it out. After performing the procedure I realized there is a much easier way to do it.

- The starter is located on the back side of the engine under the intake manifold towards the drivers side of center. It is very difficult to see from the top with everything still assembled.

Replacing the easy way:

1. Disconnect negative battery cable.

2. Remove the plastic air filter box first. After it is off you can easily see the starter down by the shifter linkage bracket.

3. Remove two bolds holding the shifter linkage bracket so it can be moved out of the way.

4. Remove wiring connectors from back of starter solenoid. One connector is just a slide on, the other main wire is held on by a metric nut. That one may look impossible to get at, but if you configure a 1/4 drive ratchet with the right sized deep well socket you have room to work it through a cut out in large mounting bracket that you will see below. I'm thinking the Japanese engineers put the cut out there for this purpose.

5. Remove two starter mounting bolts and allow the starter to slide down and back so as to rest on the bracket below.

6. Walk around to the passenger side of engine and reach down under intake manifold to pull starter up and out.

7. Reverse procedure to reassemble.

8. Done without ever crawling under the car!