"passenger 1957" wrote in message
...
I'm being told that I'll need a new starter and ring gear in my plane
(used intermittantly by a school). The last one didn't seem to last
very long... It was flooded by an instructor and cranked it "a bit
longer than usual" to get it started. The mech. startes this as the
reason they failed.

Just how long should a starter and ring gear last under normal
conditions? The last one cost about $380.00 (I'll have to check and
see the make/model on the paperwork).

Did my mechanic cheap out just to save a few dollars? Should I be sure
a top-of-the-line model is replaced or push for a warranty replacement?

Starters are high failure items on a number of planes and in my experience
there seems to be no rhyme or reason with how long they last. Sometimes
they go out every 500 hrs or so and sometimes they seem to last forever.
Just be glad your starter is up front and is easy to replace.

Some fuel injected planes are tricky to start and if someone doesn't know
what they are doing they can easily burn up a starter.