My mechanic has diagnosed my problem as a bad solenoid in my '98 LS400. He said you basically have to take off all the "top" of the engine stuff to get to the starter and solenoid. He says it is a real PITA. Since I have 265K on the engine, he is suggesting I replace the starter as well as the solenoid. What is your opinion? Would you replace with Toyota parts, Bosch parts or Carquest parts?
Starter vs Solenoid vs BOTH?
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The starter on the car is likely Denso. If so, get a Denso remanufactured unit online. It will be of very high quality and will be identical to the Toyota branded reman unit, just in a different box.
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
There's one engine out there where the starter is underneath the intake manifold; I can't recall whether the Lexus V8 is it or not.
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
+100; That is the way to go with Denso starters on Toyota/Lexus cars. The ebay kit will cost you about $20 and it takes less than half an hour for a novice to replace the offending parts on a bench. If you are not comfortable, ask your mechanic to do that.
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
+100; That is the way to go with Denso starters on Toyota/Lexus cars. The ebay kit will cost you about $20 and it takes less than half an hour for a novice to replace the offending parts on a bench. If you are not comfortable, ask your mechanic to do that.
Mebbe there is more than one V8 out there with this. The starter on the 528e is a pain to R+R. It is buried, but can be done without removing the intake manifold
Have to remove the intake manifold. Replace with a Denso starter. Not that bad of a job, the earlier 1UZ engines on the 1990-1997 were way tougher. About 3.5 hours of labor, 2 intake gaskets,1 throttle body gasket. With the age & mileage the knock sensors & sub wire harness will be extremely brittle. They will break easily if they are touched & are right next to the starter
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Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
Exactly correct. I just performed this operation on my wife's 2000 ES300. It works like a charm now!
Took me no time at all.
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
Exactly correct. I just performed this operation on my wife's 2000 ES300. It works like a charm now!
Took me no time at all.
What is happening is when I turn on ignition, it clicks. Sometimes it will start on the 2nd or 4th click. Sometimes it takes 30-40 attempts at clicking before the engine starts. I was told this is the symptom of a failing solenoid. Is this a correct diagnosis?
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
This if your going to DIY, If your paying labor its probably a wash and the replacement parts might be chinesium. YMMV
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! Nippon/Denso Gear Reduction starters are the best starter ever made & the Contacts are the most common failure.
This if your going to DIY, If your paying labor its probably a wash and the replacement parts might be chinesium. YMMV
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! ...... Contacts are the most common failure.
Exactly. The contacts under the plunger are the biggest problem. They are all pretty much the same among Toyota/Lexus and simply replacing them usually solves any starting problem as they tend to wear down and not make good contact. The starter on my daughters Corolla was factory original, when it started the 3-4 attempts before cranking routine, I went to the junkyard, found a Toyota Camry with a rebuilt starter in it, took it apart and grabbed the contacts. A couple bucks out the door and went home and removed the starter, took the solenoid apart (its super simple, just a couple screws), installed the new contacts, cleaned up the plunger a bit, and put the same starter back in. It still attached to the same 357,000 mile engine it was installed on and I have no plans to replace it as it cranks great.
Put Contacts, Plunger, & Brushes in it or at least check the condition of the Brushes!.......And run it another 265K! ...... Contacts are the most common failure.
Exactly. The contacts under the plunger are the biggest problem. They are all pretty much the same among Toyota/Lexus and simply replacing them usually solves any starting problem as they tend to wear down and not make good contact. The starter on my daughters Corolla was factory original, when it started the 3-4 attempts before cranking routine, I went to the junkyard, found a Toyota Camry with a rebuilt starter in it, took it apart and grabbed the contacts. A couple bucks out the door and went home and removed the starter, took the solenoid apart (its super simple, just a couple screws), installed the new contacts, cleaned up the plunger a bit, and put the same starter back in. It still attached to the same 357,000 mile engine it was installed on and I have no plans to replace it as it cranks great.
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
There's one engine out there where the starter is underneath the intake manifold; I can't recall whether the Lexus V8 is it or not.
North Star and they are easy enough to do.
There's one engine out there where the starter is underneath the intake manifold; I can't recall whether the Lexus V8 is it or not.
North Star and they are easy enough to do.
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Out of that only contacts is the only required part. The plunger can be sandpapered back and brushes most likely have lots of meat still left.
That's true and the same can be said about most alternator replacements on Toyota vehicles. Brushes.
Out of that only contacts is the only required part. The plunger can be sandpapered back and brushes most likely have lots of meat still left.
That's true and the same can be said about most alternator replacements on Toyota vehicles. Brushes.
With your help I have decided to go with a Lexus Reman Starter. $196 for Starter plus $40 for 2 gaskets from Lexus Dealer. The Lexus parts guy just replaced the brushes on his Tundra and he told me the brushes were $20 but since I was having to pay someone else to to the labor he was leaning to just replacing the entire starter. He said he personally would do the brushes but his labor is free. So, he pretty much agreed with all of you. He did say under NO circumstance would he use any thing other than Toyota replacement.
I'm taking a gallon of premixed Red Toyota (60 antifreeze/40 water) for replacement. Would I lose more than a gallon of antifreeze doing the starter replacement?
Thanks for your help and advice.
I'm taking a gallon of premixed Red Toyota (60 antifreeze/40 water) for replacement. Would I lose more than a gallon of antifreeze doing the starter replacement?
Thanks for your help and advice.
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