hard and labored crank to start. diagnoses?

[JCF]

Hi all- Sanity check please. Over the past few months I noticed that my car was taking more time to start, it was taking more time to crank over. I replaced the battery (Duralast H6-AGM) and things seemed ok after that for a few weeks. Now I'm noticing that in the mornings when it's been cold overnight (40s or lower) the car is exceptionally labored when trying to start. As in it can barely turn over and it takes a few seconds of it really laboring for it to manage to start.

I've voltage tested the battery in the mornings and it's just fine and when the car is running it's also in the 14.6V range so it would seem it's getting a charge. If I astart the car when it's warmer out it doesn't show these symptoms and starts up in the usual amount of time.

Is this the starter on it's way out or something else?

My thought process is that the old battery may have damaged the starter or the starter itself is simply past its prime (81k on the car) and it's not able to turn over the engine like it used to.

[JCF]

To answer my own question. Yes this was the starter starting to fail. Complete failure occurred yesterday, turn the key and nothing. Luckily I had ordered a replacement starter a few weeks ago. Took me 2 hours from start to finish to yank the old and replace with a new one. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes. The car feels like it's leaping to life now.

[RossBMWZseries]

Originally Posted by JCF

To answer my own question. Yes this was the starter starting to fail. Complete failure occurred yesterday, turn the key and nothing. Luckily I had ordered a replacement starter a few weeks ago. Took me 2 hours from start to finish to yank the old and replace with a new one. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes. The car feels like it's leaping to life now.

Glad to know you got it working! Does your car now sound different when you crank the engine? Mine did when I replaced the starter. It had a higher pitch to it.