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PowerMaster Starters: Worth It?

Big T

Big T

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Starter in the ‘99 is showing its age. Slow turning initially before finally getting enough speed to light it. Batteries are new. Son said that is how his was before replacing it.

Considering a PowerMaster starter. Are they worth it?
 
I posted the engine RPM cranking difference years ago. Bad injectors and extremely hard starting broke the overrun clutch as it would have in any starter. The warranty process with Jegs did have me use a spare starter for a few days, but I have only swapped it once in 7 years and my fault for not fixing China sticking open injectors fast enough. Never had time to get all the readings. This was with the same average cables. IMO Powermasters draw less current as they don't use a field magnet winding rather a permanent magnet.

During this 7 year time I see our 6.x rebuilt starters are getting a lot of garbage solenoids that click without spinning the engine like 1 of 4 tries. The last 2 years even my favorite parts store has found these useless parts to use in rebuilds. I hate doing a job over in a short time.

I use the top posts of the batteries on Patch as the side posts in dual post batteries are a weak afterthought. I have burnt out the connector in batteries where the top posts load test fine, but, the side posts don't.
 
There was a YT video posted by @SmithvilleD a long time ago (iirc) of a Powermaster on his rig. It cranked fast. Sounded strong. Would be curious of what kind of service he got out of it.
 
Powermaster cranking Commie sticking open injectors. Fire, stall back to starter, fire, stall... This is how to break an overrun clutch. :facepalm:



Standard gear reduction starter cranking a 6.5

 
Heavier gauge cable to battery top posts, good set of batteries, Wilson starter been working fine for me for multiple years now. I'd advocate starting ability is more about cables, contacts and batteries so long as a quality starter is used. Though I do not doubt that a Powermaster is nice.
 
Yes heavier gauge cables are a great idea. And sidepost battery terminals should be outlawed.

But the powermaster gives instantly noticeable crank speed and power on stock cables over even the
AC Delco pro series starters.

Not familiar with the Wilson. East coat thing?
Do they cut the dyno sheets with their starters and alternators too?
 
Permanent magnet gear reduction starter vs a field coil gear reduction starter, not much of a comparison really.
 
When I look at the pictures of Powermaster, it looks similar to the Denso starter used in around 2000 Toyotas like Camry except larger. The pentagon solenoid on top.

I know the one in the Toyotas are easily rebuild, if it ever fails, you can replace the contacts and the plunger (sometimes not even necessary). Then it is good to go. It only took less than half an hour to do without any previous experience.
 
Will L. said:
Yes heavier gauge cables are a great idea. And sidepost battery terminals should be outlawed.

But the powermaster gives instantly noticeable crank speed and power on stock cables over even the
AC Delco pro series starters.

Not familiar with the Wilson. East coat thing?
Do they cut the dyno sheets with their starters and alternators too?
Click to expand...
Huh, I didn’t know side posts were a problem.
 
n8in8or said:
Huh, I didn’t know side posts were a problem.
Click to expand...

Not only is the contact area to the cable from the battery smaller then top post: the internal battery construction has side post connections that are weaker than the top post. At least in dual post batteries anyway. I have had many batteries test perfect on the top post but fail on the GM side posts. The side post connections can corrode or burn up in the battery.
 
@n8in8or if you read info from any of the battery companies on combo (top & side) they will tell you to use the top post for the higher amperage pulls whenever possible.

If a specific car/truck mfr chooses to make a top post connector that is really cheap, they will have problems form it down the road like Toyotas did in early 80’s. Outside the use of a cheap connector, ever hear of anyone having to modify a top post connector to keep from coming loose or stop from arcing out?

Every car club of sorts out there for designed sidepost has a “battery cable mod” to deal with the problems they all have. Many involve having to add support to the cable to relieve the stress on the tiny bolt.

To be fair, many people have decades of trouble free use. But we had our share of issue in the fleet with them in gmt400s. We got to the point that we made a deal with the dealership, when we would buy trucks, they would deliver them to our shop or we picked them up and took to our shop. All the batteries went back to the dealership. We dropped in optimas and chopped the cable end off. We had a solder filled connector to add a top post cable we would buy and fit to length for both batteries. Did a few other things to before going into service like repalcing dexcrap coolant with green and replacing the quick connect heater hose fittings (that rot away and hard to change later) with a barb fitting.

What I do now is just wait till the first sidepost battery dies, then replace with a top post one. I am still having amazing results with optimas, but I use yellow not red.
 
Wilson is a better brand rebuilder and yes I do recall there being a dyno sheet in the box.

Not trying to discredit the Dogs Bollocks nature of Powermaster just merely pointing out that with upgraded cables/top posts and good batteries I have no perceived need for anything hybrid regarding the starter itself.
 
JMJNet said:
When I look at the pictures of Powermaster, it looks similar to the Denso starter used in around 2000 Toyotas like Camry except larger. The pentagon solenoid on top.

I know the one in the Toyotas are easily rebuild, if it ever fails, you can replace the contacts and the plunger (sometimes not even necessary). Then it is good to go. It only took less than half an hour to do without any previous experience.
Click to expand...

I noticed it too. I asked them about it when talking to them about a year ago. Guy said coincidence and only so many ways to skin a cat. He said the design is based on quality over cost, and Denso probably came to same design conclusion they did is all.
Powermaster starter/ alternator is 100% made in USA, nothing in Japan.
 
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