If your Starter is Going Out--you know, sometimes it turns over and sometimes it just clicks a little--you might be able to last a year or more while it goes. It works better in warm weather, and better when the engine is warm. I found only one reference on the internet to a possibility of messing up your engine, it didn't sound too likely.

What finally happened was this: one day we started the car and the starter just kept going. You couldn't turn off the engine or the starter. I thought I might disconnect the battery, would that work or not? Before I got to that point, smoke started pouring out of the starter and finally stopped. The engine was apparently not damaged, but I had to replace the battery; it burned up as well as the starter. It was only a couple years old, but I guess I can mark it up to a learning experience. A bus driver told me later that he once had a job keeping generators charged. When one of the starters went out (stuck on), there were explosions, fire, and huge destruction. By the way, my 1994 Camry was made in the U.S.A., and it shows.