03' A4 3.0 Quattro starter

[PGHDevin]

Hey everybody,

I'm new to the forums and quite honestly, new to Audi. This is a question in regards to my girlfriend's 2003 Audi A4 3.0L Quattro. We are located in Pittsburgh, PA and I'm sure many of you east-coasters have experienced this harsh weather too. Over the past week or so, her car has intermittently not been starting. My first assumption was the battery (given the cold weather), but the more I messed around with it, I noticed that there was no clicking or any sign that it was the battery. Also, when it did turn over, the car started up right away, no chugging. My new assumption is its the starter..go figure. So I called my local garage and received a quote for $650! I'm sorry, but that seems ridiculous when I can find the part online for under $100..

Anyway.. this morning when we woke up, the car refused to start and it seems that the starter is officially dead this time.

Has anyone on here ever replaced a starter in the 3.0? If so, is this something I could do myself? I've heard with an A8, it is required to remove the engine block? I'm surely hoping it's not that difficult . Any help on this is much appreciated. I am very handy with my vehicle (mazdaspeed3) and perform a lot of my own installs, but I am not familiar with Audis.

On a side note, is this, in fact, the correct starter that I am looking for? Because it is posted here at a pretty remarkable price.

http://www.carparts.com/details/Audi...FS1gMgodOXkAIQ

Thank you!

[walky_talky20]

Definitely get the cheapest one you possibly can. Preferably obtained directly from China. It's not like it will leave you anywhere should it fail.

But seriously, I would put a lot more faith in a $25 genuine Audi starter from a junkyard.