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Originally Posted by dnp
Thanks to all before me who have done and documented this job. Your experiences have been quite helpful to me on my LX470(although I'm not yet finished with the job, I'll report any further difficulties).......now, for those who have yet to do it: the intake removal is no big job; however, removal of the starter is a BEAR! As the previous posts have said, the starter is located in the "V" of the V8. What I DIDN'T understand is that the starter mounting bolts are on the outside (transmission side) of the block! There are 3 mounting bolts (2 14mm bolts and 1 12mm bolt) The passenger side 14mm bolt is not really that hard to get, nor is the 12mm bolt in the middle, but I had one *^&%^& of a time getting to the driver's side 14mm bolt! As a matter of fact, I simply could not get to it from the engine bay. I tried every position, reach, etc., and I couldn't get a socket on it. The only way I could get to it was from below.
First, I removed the tray from underneath the truck. Then, reaching between the exhaust and transmission on the driver's side, I was able to feel around and locate the offending bolt. I tried several extension/socket combinations, but I ran into almost the same problem I was having up top. I then made a trip to the local Harbor Freight store to pick up as many inexpensive extensions, extensions with wobble ends, and u-joint couplings that I thought I could possibly need.........in the end, what worked for me was a combination of extensions making up about 4 feet in length, with the business end being made up of a wobble-ended extension, a u-joint, and a shallow 14mm socket. I ran the extensions over the crossmember and threaded it up to the bolt. With a little working, I was able to get it totally over the bolt and remove it.
The other hard part about removing the starter is that the wiring harness that connects to the starter - among other things - is encased in a protective plastic housing (keep in mind that all of this is located in the V with the starter......VERY close quarters!) After the starter is completely unbolted, and after the small starter wire is unplugged, it's still very difficult to get the starter to move enough to get inside the plastic housing to unbolt the starter power wire. However, that job is greatly helped by removing the 12mm ground wire that is bolted to the block just on the driver's side of the starter. By removing this bolt, it will allow you to pull the starter out enough that you can open the plastic housing and remove the power wire.......reassembly is the reverse........again, I found it to be easier (e.g., possible) to reinstall the driver's side 14mm starter bolt from below the truck. In addition to being easier for me from below, based on previous posts I was also concerned that trying to reinstall the bolt from the top (without a complete grip on the bolt head) might end up leaving the bolt loose.......no such issue with the extensions/u-joint configuration.
I probably should have waited to post this experience until I have completed the entire job, but I was SO happy to have finally gotten the old starter out/new starter in, I had to go ahead and post this (on the off chance that someone might be doing/about to do the same job)
Thanks again to all who have posted on this before. Hope the job is straight forward from here on out...........................
dnp
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