BMW and Toyota recall 87,000+ vehicles for fire-risk starter motors that overheat during engine startup, affecting 2021-2024 ...

The opening part of this series laid out how the starter motor works, set the thing in the context of its electrical supply and suggested a few eyes-and-ears checks as the first steps in ...

BMW of North America has announced a recall of 87,394 vehicles due to a fire risk from an engine starter that could overheat. Submitted on January 30, 2026, this newest recall follows several months ...

It glows on your car’s dashboard and instantly ignites terror and loathing in the hearts and wallets of drivers; the dreaded “Check Engine” warning light. For ...

Starter motors sit at the center of every modern ignition, yet most drivers only notice them when the key twist leads to silence. I want to unpack what that small electric motor actually does, how it ...

The starter is probably the last thing on your mind when you're building a trick new engine. You've usually got visions of horsepower dancing in your head, and as long as the starter turns the motor ...

Neither black tape nor a magic marker is the solution when your car or truck's check-engine light comes on. When the light, which is shaped like the outline of an engine, illuminates, do not panic!

There are about a thousand and one sounds a car can make when it’s deteriorating toward failure. You’ve got clunks from broken suspension parts, the hiss of a spent radiator, and brop, brop, brop of a ...

When it comes to turning over, it always seems that Corvette starters tend to dislike two things: Compression and heat. Increase the compression ratio and the starter isn't happy. Increase the ...

Back in the day, you had to hand-crank your engine to start it. Thankfully, Charles Kettering and Cadillac gave us the electric starter motor in 1912, and we’ve started our engines from the comfort of ...

Zak is new to the CarBuzz team, working as a freelance content writer. When Zak isn't writing How To articles for CarBuzz he's working as a high school automotive technology instructor. Before ...