Don't DIY Starter Removal Instructions 97 MAZDA MPV 4WD

I'll make this short and sweet. Last Sunday, my wife got in our 1997 Mazda MPV after church and tried to start it. Nothing. Turns out that the starter was on a bad spot and would not crank. Ratz! Since I could not find out where the starter was at the time, I had it towed to my house. I validated that it was indeed the starter. I remove the front plastic dirt guard and found the starter. It's not in a very nice place. I took my long mag light and banged on it a few times, then it cranked over. Yep it was the starter.

Yesterday, I finally purchased a new starter (first mistake). I then went out to pull out the old starter. After removing the metal plate that protects the front differential, I could see the starter bolts. It looked a little tight.


After taking off the front differntial drive shaft, I attempted to remove the 3 bolts that hold the starter on. After some strenuous efort I got the lower bolt off.

However, the scond bolt proved to be so stubborn I decided to take another approach. There is a large cable assembly the runs right in front of the second bolt and so I used a angle bracket on my wratchet to get at it better (second mistake). Well, I did not have enough pressure on the wrench and so I stripped the bolt (slightly). After fretting a bit and looking at it for a while, I realized that even if I got the bolts off, there was no way I could pull out the starter. There are two obstacles, the front differential and the engine heat shield that covers the starter. I have no way of removing the front differential (3 strikes and I'm out). So, I'll be taking it to a pro. This is the first time I've been beaten. Yes I'm very depressed. I wish I had a car lift... I could do it all then.

Lessons learned:
1) Buy a manual first. You'll learn what the real dissassembly instructions are and there by know what you'll get into before you actually get into it.

2) Don't buy the new starter, until you get the old one out. Now I have to take the new starter to the mechanic and then get the core from them to get my core rebate... more work.