Which starter? (First Post!!!)

[rcm3]

Hello hello!

I'm pumped to finally join the e53 world. I've been an e36 m3 owner for the past 12 years and finally added to my stable a beautiful Estoril Blue 2003 4.6is (undoubtedly one of the best BMW colors ever made... sorry Imola! ). I'll be taking and posting pics when I have a chance to complete my initiation.

To my question:

The original part number for my starter is clearly 12411736921

But when trying to find a replacement, multiple sites list 12411729981 as an updated version. This updated part number is not showing as a BMW part (on realOEM), and is only found from 3rd party (or OEM Bosch) sources.

They both appear to be 1.7kW. The 'updated version' seems to be substantially cheaper, and more readily available than the original part.

Can anyone confirm that the *981 part fits and works as expected?

TIA!

[BMWX5CHI]

Originally Posted by rcm3

Hello hello!

I'm pumped to finally join the e53 world. I've been an e36 m3 owner for the past 12 years and finally added to my stable a beautiful Estoril Blue 2003 4.6is (undoubtedly one of the best BMW colors ever made... sorry Imola! ). I'll be taking and posting pics when I have a chance to complete my initiation.

To my question:

The original part number for my starter is clearly 12411736921

But when trying to find a replacement, multiple sites list 12411729981 as an updated version. This updated part number is not showing as a BMW part (on realOEM), and is only found from 3rd party (or OEM Bosch) sources.

They both appear to be 1.7kW. The 'updated version' seems to be substantially cheaper, and more readily available than the original part.

Can anyone confirm that the *981 part fits and works as expected?

TIA!

Here's a link for the Original Starter - 12411736921

BMW 12411736921 Genuine Starter | eBay

[Qsilver7]

There's another online part database similar to realoem...which gives slightly more information.

Do a part number search at this site and you'll see that the other number is discontinued and was only used for a period of time...then BMW went to another number. This site also list another remanufactured number you may run across: http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/12411729981

[rcm3]

Originally Posted by BMWX5CHI

Here's a link for the Original Starter - 12411736921

BMW 12411736921 Genuine Starter | eBay

Quite expensive compared to OEM (I think Bosch was probably OEM, right?).

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

There's another online part database similar to realoem...which gives slightly more information.

Do a part number search at this site and you'll see that the other number is discontinued and was only used for a period of time...then BMW went to another number. This site also list another remanufactured number you may run across: http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/12411729981

That's a cool site. Haven't seen it before. It's still sort of confusing, particularly the term "non exchangeable retrospectively".

I guess the way I'm interpreting it (based on this page) is that the car originally came with 12411468622 or 12411729981, but the only one that BMW sells now is an updated version with 12411736921...?