1. Plenty of good tips on this site and videos online so I would just post tips about what worked for us as some steps posted online were unnecessary.
2. It is very much a day job - forget the cheap parts options like rebuild, aftermarket starters or option of replacing just the solenoid. Yes you can replace the solenoid without pulling out the starter completely but you would still need to get it loose as solenoid nut ore hidden within starter assembly flange. My truck is over 14 years old and it is not the kind of a job I would be eager to do again anytime soon. Replace the entire starter assembly $340 vs about $60 for the solenoid. My factory installed old starter lasted some 14 years - not bad at all especially given its location, it is placed inside the oven. Starter is $340 - labor cost at the dealership may run over $1000. You do NOT want to pay $1000 every 2 years to replace aftermarket starter to save $100 on the cost of of the original Toyota part.
3. Get Lexus starter- Toyota may sell you US built part for Tundra and Sequoia - could be the same starter but I’m taking no chances. Be specific to your parts clerk - you want new not rebuild as both parts are available. Rebuilt starter is about $310 new one is around $340. New starter from Lexus would have red sticker on it, display Toyota and Denso names and Japan as country of manufacture. Pictures of US built starters I have seen in various posts have blue stickers. Will post picture below showing part number for new Made in Japan starter
4. New starter is smaller and you would be thanking both - Toyota and God for it.
5. Im located in the rust belt and per factory service manual, removal of the exhaust manifold would be too risky. Breaking rusty bolt or stud can easily turn into nightmare and even rounding one off could spoil a good day. Many complain about how horrible starter location is, as bad as it is, the entire day I was working on it I was thanking Toyota engineers for giving us rust belters Option B which is actually quiet doable.
6. Day 1 Order new starter and you would most likely have it at the dealership overnight. Do not ease rest of the day, get under the truck, remove plastic undercover and spray bolts and studs with generous amounts of PB blaster or penetrant of your choice. Most important are 3 studs at the top of the catalytic converter pipe, 2 lower spring loaded nuts at the end of the pipe. You also want to remove front passenger side wheel, rear plastic cover inside the wheel well, (upper clips would get destroyed). Front cover is very flexible but it helps to remove it or just get one snap out, it is a push type. Locate 3 outer heat shield bolts and soak with PB Blaster. One in the front of the strut tower is the worst and had the most rust. Get under the car again and spray catalytic pipe bolts again, also locate the inner heat shield and its 2 lower bolts and one upper bolt covered by the bump in the corrugated heat shield. That upper bolt is possibly the worst part of the job but we would deal with it later. For now, with 3 bolts attached use a small pry bar or large flat screwdriver to flatten the bump in the heat shield so you can see and access that 3rd bolt. Just around upper bolt and enough so you can access and turn that bolt a bit at the time with standard box wrench. Now since you can see it well spray it with PB Blaster. Overnight soaking is best. Spray lower bolts too. Also 2 starter bolts, and some other like bracket holding transmission cooler pipes etc. Clean the area around dipstick tube port with rag if you can get to it and spray PB where dipstick tube enter that port. It is best accessible thru the wheel well - I did not do it and dipstick tub put up a fight. ORDER NEW dipstick O-ring with the starter as ours got damaged during removal. I did not spray my dipstick port day prior and it was a fight to get the tube out. Since you are already under the truck locate the oxygen sensor wire connectors, you would need to disconnect both Day 2 also remove rear O2 connector from the holder.. Front connector is bit tough especially if you have large hands and wire is not very long so it must be done - right hand from behind (rear side of the car - most room) to squeeze the tab and second from below to pull t out works best. Helper with small hands would be great. Rear connector would go easy. IMPORTANT STEP as I read some stuff online, 3 forward catalytic converter stud nuts like to seize after initial 2-3 turns. To prevent that from happening use some Loctite Anti-Seize paste to lube the threads below nuts. I did the same to 2 rear spring loaded bolts. I think that is all for Day 1 prep. If CAT bolts look very rusty you may want keep MAP torch around just in case to be prepared for Day 2 but passenger side bolts typically do not give problems. - it is always the driver side. That is all for the day 1 prep - go home and watch some you tube videos of the removal process. LX, LC and Tundra videos are all good.
7. Pickup new starter and dipstick o-ring from the dealership. Mine was available at 8am. Wear your worst clothing and gloves but for few tasks bare hands would be required so keep some Orange Fast green on hand.
8. Disconnect battery negative and tuck away so it does not spring back. Pull the dipstick out of the tube and put away. Remove dipstick tube bolt on the passenger side of the engine block.
9. Get under the car and disconnect 2 o2 sensor connectors as discussed under Day1
10. Follow the tubers videos - that’s what I did
11. You only need to drop the catalytic pipe on the frame cross members and move tad back, do not attempt to remove it completely without lift, may not even be possible. It took some twisting and prying but it did release without freeing muffler mounts. Helper very helpful here - it is a big pipe so each person watches one end as you both twist and turn carefully not to damage studs or O2 sensors. Once free Secure it on the frame as far from the starter opening as you can - you do not need to move away far.
12. Pull the dipstick tube out - if it does not want to go - may help to remove large heat shield first (14) - our put up a fight because I did not spray the port during day1 prep. Having it out make removal of some bolts, shield and possibly starter easier.
13. Loosen bracket holding transmission cooler lines so they have more flex but we did not have to disconnect cooler lines like many videos show you must do. Totally unnecessary.
14. Long heat shield - it is easier to remove bolts from the wheel well. You pull the long heat shield out from under the truck using void created by removing CAT pipe. Helper should help aligning it from the wheel well, must pull with some out and down force but try not to rip it apart, back and forth with up and down wiggle and some controlled forceful twist - it would come out. If it gets squeezed a bit no worry - it is just a heat shield.
15. Secondary corrugated heat shield is tougher despite being smaller. I believe 2 lower bolts were accessed from the wheel well, third one from under the car as it is blocked by the manifold. Many tubers tell you to use ratcheting wrench - DO NOT. It would get trapped and you would not be able to reverse it or free it. We had to remove starter bolts and twist the starter to free the ratcheting wrench. You also do not need an offset ratchet either. Just as I told you in step Day1 - flatten the bump in the corrugated shield to expose the bolt and use open box wrench - little bit at the time even if takes 200 turns and Thank me later. Once you get it out give yourself a bronze medal. Silver after you pull that small shield out without damaging it too much. The only way to earn Gold is to put that 3rd bolt back after swapping starters and I would show you a very special tool trick to do it.
16. Loosen 2 starter bolts size 14 (the other 2 are larger - do not touch) and extend out but do not remove upper one completely - starter hangs on it so you can slightly move it back and forth and twist and turn.
17. You would damage one corner of the small heat shield a bit but it is the only corner which does not have a bolt hole so no biggie. You pull it with down out motion rocking it with decisive force, the harder it fights the harder you pull rotating up and down while you also move the starter hanging on the upper bolt twisting it to give heat shield most room. No mega pull so you force it out on first attempt - the key is to force It out gradually with minimal damage. It would get caught a lot on the corner of the plastic square box protecting the positive wire contact on the solenoid. Free it there and pull down more where it gets stuck on the round body of the starter so it does not catch the plastic wire box again and then force it down. It is mostly a flat vertical shield but it has narrow 90 degree horizontal bend at the very top which must compress during removal and shield would suffer some minor damage or crack on top - you can restore it (bend back) later . For ease of installing it back do not bend that upper edge to full 90 degree angle - just angle it about 50 degrees to the left. Got it out - award yourself Silver Medal.
18. It was not necessary for us to remove third - non corrugated heat shield - the one with the reversed bolt. That one may only be on the Lexus - not sure.
19. Disconnect starter cable and ignition connector from the solenoid. Do it from the front side of the frame crossmember. Take a good note or take photo of how the plastic L shape cable protector is positioned in relation to the engine and the starter (I did not and wasted time putting it back twice to get it right because if you get it wrong manifold would prevent you from turning it close to the engine) Move starter under best angle for easier access with its butt end tilted down towards your face. There are 2 tabs on the sides of the square box you pop up with your fingernails, open the hood of the box and flip up 180 degrees till it locks onto upper part of the lug protector. Loosen the nut (12 mm if I remember right) and remove. Remove the wire lug together with bulky L shape plastic lug insulator.
20. Famous ignition trigger wire. Very easy to remove and YOU DID NOT break it. It was already broken. Common problem on Lexus cars and part of the wiring harness. Bad material used by Toyota for the extreme heat of the exhaust manifold. Many flagship 460 owners had no start issues due to this same connector tab breaking off on its own and in their case connector would pop out due to vibrations. Do not replace the connector even if you have one available, would be tough to do with little space and u would need to extend the wire, simply reconnect existing connector without broken tab and use dab of high temp rtv silicone just on top after it is plugged in to prevent it from popping out. I stress on top only so you can remove it with ease after 10-15 years down the road when you have to tackle this project again although by that time you might already be driving all electric self solar charging LX 1000 boosted by wireless charging power house mother station located on Mars for daily driving and moon for after hours.
21. Removing the starter, with both wires disconnected you may have to bend the wires down out of the way to gain more room behind the starter. We did not have to separate the solenoid from the starter motor to get it out in line. Entire assembly came out just fine. Move starter back while pulling its rear end (butt) to the right at the same time until you free it from the flywheel cover, wiggle it some and it would go. Once you are in the chute twist and proceed toward exit opening and see how it fits, one position would be best than all others and you would just hit one of the 3 catalytic studs thinking It is a no go. Well I got it back and forth trying to to spin in out, put it other way but the original position was best. On the 4th attempt it just came out so easy I could not believe it. Wish I knew what I did differently but this is what I think - once you get it as close as you can - think the front starter flange (where the bolts go) is a boat propeller with 2 blades. One smaller on the bottom and one larger on top. The top one gets stock on one of the catalytic pipe studs while lower needs to clear the attached cooler lines or their bracket, that is it so focus - (Im a USCG Licensed Master and propeller analogy works for me well) focus it is a boat propeller and you must turn it clockwise direction not to hit that CAT flange stud - you must angle (steer the prop) to clear it and get the upper blade ahead of that stud. Steer the starter holding it in the back and turn clockwise under somewhat aggressive angle so upper blade can get ahead of that pesky CAT stud and once there bring the lower and smaller blade forward while pushing transmission cooler lines away just a bit so bottom blade does not get stuck there. At the end I could not believe how nicely it came out. Option 2 - you could try to remove the stud from the manifold to CAT flange using reversed TORX socket but that was truly not necessary.
22. Well well well, new starter is much smaller and it went in like butter. Thank You Toyota!
23. Everything else is reverse of what you did to remove it but if you want the Gold Medal you must attach that upper 3rd bolt on the small heat shield. Many just forget about it alltogether and heat shield does not rattle but that Gold Medal - I just wanted it so bad - I came up with this special tool for the job.
24. New starter in - connect the wires and snap the plastic cover down, it would release from the holder with little force. Make sure wires go the same way and position as old starter, L shape plastic protector must end up closer to the engine block- not manifold.
25. Hang the new starter with cables attached on the upper bolt so you can still rotate the starter and twist a bit since it is hanging on just one very loose upper bolt. Get the special tool armed with the bullet (bolt) and have the other 2 handy. The tough one goes in first as heat shield must be very loose and not spring loaded . If you attach lower bolts first your heat shield would be moving together with the starter and you want the ability to wiggle the starter assembly independently without moving the shield in order to align it with the upper hole of the starter bracket, and in later steps sneak special tool bolt in the upper hole of the heat shield heat shield. If your heat shield was badly mangled test in on the old starter prior - to makes sure 3 holes line up.
26. Rotating starter assembly up and down squeeze small heat shield into correct position, should not be as tough as removal but still very tight squeeze.
27. Once in insert special tool bolt into the upper hole in the heat shield and line it up with the threaded hole on the starter assembly. Use long screwdriver wedged against manifold to push the bolt into threaded hole, hold tight and use long box wrench to turn it in. After 2-3 turns wiggle the special tool wire to confirm you are in the threads and pull hard down on the special tool so wire loop would straighten and release off the bolt. Save that special tool for future projects. Success? You just earned that Gold Medal. Using long box turn it in almost to the end but not tight so you can still line up 2 lower holes.
28. Now tighten the new starter to the flywheel body with upper and lower starter bolts, nice and tight.
29. Start 2 lower heat shield bolts and tighten all 3.
30. Install the outer long heat shield in the reverse of the removal process.
31. Do not forget the dipstick tube with new oring.
32. Smooth sailing from now on.
33. CAT pipe with helper and 2 O2 sensor connectors, snap rear one into holder.
34. Do not forget to connect the battery.
35. Do not forget to put the wheel back on - YES you would be that excited this project is almost over.
36. When done make sure you have no hardware left and can account for all your tools.
37. Start the car and do not panic when it dies after you release the break pedal. Start again.
38. No start - go back to 1 and start over, should go twice as fast second time around.
39. Successfull Start - Congratulations- treat yourself and your helper to 1 quality bottle of beer for each medal earned during the repair process.
40. Beer recommendations are: Bronze medal - your personal favorite brew, Silver - La Chouffe Blonde, Gold - get yourself some Duvel - you earned it and likely saved yourself quiet bit of cash. Plus that beautiful sound of that car running again in combination withe smelly smoke coming up from under the hood - it is heaven and no worry - the smoke is from PB Blaster burning off the manifold and the cat converter pipe and would stop shortly. Your whole body and clothes smell just like that and if you do not know it yet your wife would be announcing it to you very shortly. Best way to get rid of that toxic skunk venom is to soak yourself in the tub or jacuzzi (if you have the luxury) for like 2 hours. Oh - You maybe tempted to drive the car right away but after above beer combo - that is not highly recommended. Remember - anytime - project of this magnitude - Safety first, 80% of the time under the vehicle with wheel removed, use jack stands in addition to the jack and keep the removed wheel under the front frame so if it falls it would end up on the wheel and not your melon. You have 5 wheels including spare but only one head and that is the final truth!
Cheers!
2. It is very much a day job - forget the cheap parts options like rebuild, aftermarket starters or option of replacing just the solenoid. Yes you can replace the solenoid without pulling out the starter completely but you would still need to get it loose as solenoid nut ore hidden within starter assembly flange. My truck is over 14 years old and it is not the kind of a job I would be eager to do again anytime soon. Replace the entire starter assembly $340 vs about $60 for the solenoid. My factory installed old starter lasted some 14 years - not bad at all especially given its location, it is placed inside the oven. Starter is $340 - labor cost at the dealership may run over $1000. You do NOT want to pay $1000 every 2 years to replace aftermarket starter to save $100 on the cost of of the original Toyota part.
3. Get Lexus starter- Toyota may sell you US built part for Tundra and Sequoia - could be the same starter but I’m taking no chances. Be specific to your parts clerk - you want new not rebuild as both parts are available. Rebuilt starter is about $310 new one is around $340. New starter from Lexus would have red sticker on it, display Toyota and Denso names and Japan as country of manufacture. Pictures of US built starters I have seen in various posts have blue stickers. Will post picture below showing part number for new Made in Japan starter
4. New starter is smaller and you would be thanking both - Toyota and God for it.
5. Im located in the rust belt and per factory service manual, removal of the exhaust manifold would be too risky. Breaking rusty bolt or stud can easily turn into nightmare and even rounding one off could spoil a good day. Many complain about how horrible starter location is, as bad as it is, the entire day I was working on it I was thanking Toyota engineers for giving us rust belters Option B which is actually quiet doable.
6. Day 1 Order new starter and you would most likely have it at the dealership overnight. Do not ease rest of the day, get under the truck, remove plastic undercover and spray bolts and studs with generous amounts of PB blaster or penetrant of your choice. Most important are 3 studs at the top of the catalytic converter pipe, 2 lower spring loaded nuts at the end of the pipe. You also want to remove front passenger side wheel, rear plastic cover inside the wheel well, (upper clips would get destroyed). Front cover is very flexible but it helps to remove it or just get one snap out, it is a push type. Locate 3 outer heat shield bolts and soak with PB Blaster. One in the front of the strut tower is the worst and had the most rust. Get under the car again and spray catalytic pipe bolts again, also locate the inner heat shield and its 2 lower bolts and one upper bolt covered by the bump in the corrugated heat shield. That upper bolt is possibly the worst part of the job but we would deal with it later. For now, with 3 bolts attached use a small pry bar or large flat screwdriver to flatten the bump in the heat shield so you can see and access that 3rd bolt. Just around upper bolt and enough so you can access and turn that bolt a bit at the time with standard box wrench. Now since you can see it well spray it with PB Blaster. Overnight soaking is best. Spray lower bolts too. Also 2 starter bolts, and some other like bracket holding transmission cooler pipes etc. Clean the area around dipstick tube port with rag if you can get to it and spray PB where dipstick tube enter that port. It is best accessible thru the wheel well - I did not do it and dipstick tub put up a fight. ORDER NEW dipstick O-ring with the starter as ours got damaged during removal. I did not spray my dipstick port day prior and it was a fight to get the tube out. Since you are already under the truck locate the oxygen sensor wire connectors, you would need to disconnect both Day 2 also remove rear O2 connector from the holder.. Front connector is bit tough especially if you have large hands and wire is not very long so it must be done - right hand from behind (rear side of the car - most room) to squeeze the tab and second from below to pull t out works best. Helper with small hands would be great. Rear connector would go easy. IMPORTANT STEP as I read some stuff online, 3 forward catalytic converter stud nuts like to seize after initial 2-3 turns. To prevent that from happening use some Loctite Anti-Seize paste to lube the threads below nuts. I did the same to 2 rear spring loaded bolts. I think that is all for Day 1 prep. If CAT bolts look very rusty you may want keep MAP torch around just in case to be prepared for Day 2 but passenger side bolts typically do not give problems. - it is always the driver side. That is all for the day 1 prep - go home and watch some you tube videos of the removal process. LX, LC and Tundra videos are all good.
7. Pickup new starter and dipstick o-ring from the dealership. Mine was available at 8am. Wear your worst clothing and gloves but for few tasks bare hands would be required so keep some Orange Fast green on hand.
8. Disconnect battery negative and tuck away so it does not spring back. Pull the dipstick out of the tube and put away. Remove dipstick tube bolt on the passenger side of the engine block.
9. Get under the car and disconnect 2 o2 sensor connectors as discussed under Day1
10. Follow the tubers videos - that’s what I did
11. You only need to drop the catalytic pipe on the frame cross members and move tad back, do not attempt to remove it completely without lift, may not even be possible. It took some twisting and prying but it did release without freeing muffler mounts. Helper very helpful here - it is a big pipe so each person watches one end as you both twist and turn carefully not to damage studs or O2 sensors. Once free Secure it on the frame as far from the starter opening as you can - you do not need to move away far.
12. Pull the dipstick tube out - if it does not want to go - may help to remove large heat shield first (14) - our put up a fight because I did not spray the port during day1 prep. Having it out make removal of some bolts, shield and possibly starter easier.
13. Loosen bracket holding transmission cooler lines so they have more flex but we did not have to disconnect cooler lines like many videos show you must do. Totally unnecessary.
14. Long heat shield - it is easier to remove bolts from the wheel well. You pull the long heat shield out from under the truck using void created by removing CAT pipe. Helper should help aligning it from the wheel well, must pull with some out and down force but try not to rip it apart, back and forth with up and down wiggle and some controlled forceful twist - it would come out. If it gets squeezed a bit no worry - it is just a heat shield.
15. Secondary corrugated heat shield is tougher despite being smaller. I believe 2 lower bolts were accessed from the wheel well, third one from under the car as it is blocked by the manifold. Many tubers tell you to use ratcheting wrench - DO NOT. It would get trapped and you would not be able to reverse it or free it. We had to remove starter bolts and twist the starter to free the ratcheting wrench. You also do not need an offset ratchet either. Just as I told you in step Day1 - flatten the bump in the corrugated shield to expose the bolt and use open box wrench - little bit at the time even if takes 200 turns and Thank me later. Once you get it out give yourself a bronze medal. Silver after you pull that small shield out without damaging it too much. The only way to earn Gold is to put that 3rd bolt back after swapping starters and I would show you a very special tool trick to do it.
16. Loosen 2 starter bolts size 14 (the other 2 are larger - do not touch) and extend out but do not remove upper one completely - starter hangs on it so you can slightly move it back and forth and twist and turn.
17. You would damage one corner of the small heat shield a bit but it is the only corner which does not have a bolt hole so no biggie. You pull it with down out motion rocking it with decisive force, the harder it fights the harder you pull rotating up and down while you also move the starter hanging on the upper bolt twisting it to give heat shield most room. No mega pull so you force it out on first attempt - the key is to force It out gradually with minimal damage. It would get caught a lot on the corner of the plastic square box protecting the positive wire contact on the solenoid. Free it there and pull down more where it gets stuck on the round body of the starter so it does not catch the plastic wire box again and then force it down. It is mostly a flat vertical shield but it has narrow 90 degree horizontal bend at the very top which must compress during removal and shield would suffer some minor damage or crack on top - you can restore it (bend back) later . For ease of installing it back do not bend that upper edge to full 90 degree angle - just angle it about 50 degrees to the left. Got it out - award yourself Silver Medal.
18. It was not necessary for us to remove third - non corrugated heat shield - the one with the reversed bolt. That one may only be on the Lexus - not sure.
19. Disconnect starter cable and ignition connector from the solenoid. Do it from the front side of the frame crossmember. Take a good note or take photo of how the plastic L shape cable protector is positioned in relation to the engine and the starter (I did not and wasted time putting it back twice to get it right because if you get it wrong manifold would prevent you from turning it close to the engine) Move starter under best angle for easier access with its butt end tilted down towards your face. There are 2 tabs on the sides of the square box you pop up with your fingernails, open the hood of the box and flip up 180 degrees till it locks onto upper part of the lug protector. Loosen the nut (12 mm if I remember right) and remove. Remove the wire lug together with bulky L shape plastic lug insulator.
20. Famous ignition trigger wire. Very easy to remove and YOU DID NOT break it. It was already broken. Common problem on Lexus cars and part of the wiring harness. Bad material used by Toyota for the extreme heat of the exhaust manifold. Many flagship 460 owners had no start issues due to this same connector tab breaking off on its own and in their case connector would pop out due to vibrations. Do not replace the connector even if you have one available, would be tough to do with little space and u would need to extend the wire, simply reconnect existing connector without broken tab and use dab of high temp rtv silicone just on top after it is plugged in to prevent it from popping out. I stress on top only so you can remove it with ease after 10-15 years down the road when you have to tackle this project again although by that time you might already be driving all electric self solar charging LX 1000 boosted by wireless charging power house mother station located on Mars for daily driving and moon for after hours.
21. Removing the starter, with both wires disconnected you may have to bend the wires down out of the way to gain more room behind the starter. We did not have to separate the solenoid from the starter motor to get it out in line. Entire assembly came out just fine. Move starter back while pulling its rear end (butt) to the right at the same time until you free it from the flywheel cover, wiggle it some and it would go. Once you are in the chute twist and proceed toward exit opening and see how it fits, one position would be best than all others and you would just hit one of the 3 catalytic studs thinking It is a no go. Well I got it back and forth trying to to spin in out, put it other way but the original position was best. On the 4th attempt it just came out so easy I could not believe it. Wish I knew what I did differently but this is what I think - once you get it as close as you can - think the front starter flange (where the bolts go) is a boat propeller with 2 blades. One smaller on the bottom and one larger on top. The top one gets stock on one of the catalytic pipe studs while lower needs to clear the attached cooler lines or their bracket, that is it so focus - (Im a USCG Licensed Master and propeller analogy works for me well) focus it is a boat propeller and you must turn it clockwise direction not to hit that CAT flange stud - you must angle (steer the prop) to clear it and get the upper blade ahead of that stud. Steer the starter holding it in the back and turn clockwise under somewhat aggressive angle so upper blade can get ahead of that pesky CAT stud and once there bring the lower and smaller blade forward while pushing transmission cooler lines away just a bit so bottom blade does not get stuck there. At the end I could not believe how nicely it came out. Option 2 - you could try to remove the stud from the manifold to CAT flange using reversed TORX socket but that was truly not necessary.
22. Well well well, new starter is much smaller and it went in like butter. Thank You Toyota!
23. Everything else is reverse of what you did to remove it but if you want the Gold Medal you must attach that upper 3rd bolt on the small heat shield. Many just forget about it alltogether and heat shield does not rattle but that Gold Medal - I just wanted it so bad - I came up with this special tool for the job.
24. New starter in - connect the wires and snap the plastic cover down, it would release from the holder with little force. Make sure wires go the same way and position as old starter, L shape plastic protector must end up closer to the engine block- not manifold.
25. Hang the new starter with cables attached on the upper bolt so you can still rotate the starter and twist a bit since it is hanging on just one very loose upper bolt. Get the special tool armed with the bullet (bolt) and have the other 2 handy. The tough one goes in first as heat shield must be very loose and not spring loaded . If you attach lower bolts first your heat shield would be moving together with the starter and you want the ability to wiggle the starter assembly independently without moving the shield in order to align it with the upper hole of the starter bracket, and in later steps sneak special tool bolt in the upper hole of the heat shield heat shield. If your heat shield was badly mangled test in on the old starter prior - to makes sure 3 holes line up.
26. Rotating starter assembly up and down squeeze small heat shield into correct position, should not be as tough as removal but still very tight squeeze.
27. Once in insert special tool bolt into the upper hole in the heat shield and line it up with the threaded hole on the starter assembly. Use long screwdriver wedged against manifold to push the bolt into threaded hole, hold tight and use long box wrench to turn it in. After 2-3 turns wiggle the special tool wire to confirm you are in the threads and pull hard down on the special tool so wire loop would straighten and release off the bolt. Save that special tool for future projects. Success? You just earned that Gold Medal. Using long box turn it in almost to the end but not tight so you can still line up 2 lower holes.
28. Now tighten the new starter to the flywheel body with upper and lower starter bolts, nice and tight.
29. Start 2 lower heat shield bolts and tighten all 3.
30. Install the outer long heat shield in the reverse of the removal process.
31. Do not forget the dipstick tube with new oring.
32. Smooth sailing from now on.
33. CAT pipe with helper and 2 O2 sensor connectors, snap rear one into holder.
34. Do not forget to connect the battery.
35. Do not forget to put the wheel back on - YES you would be that excited this project is almost over.
36. When done make sure you have no hardware left and can account for all your tools.
37. Start the car and do not panic when it dies after you release the break pedal. Start again.
38. No start - go back to 1 and start over, should go twice as fast second time around.
39. Successfull Start - Congratulations- treat yourself and your helper to 1 quality bottle of beer for each medal earned during the repair process.
40. Beer recommendations are: Bronze medal - your personal favorite brew, Silver - La Chouffe Blonde, Gold - get yourself some Duvel - you earned it and likely saved yourself quiet bit of cash. Plus that beautiful sound of that car running again in combination withe smelly smoke coming up from under the hood - it is heaven and no worry - the smoke is from PB Blaster burning off the manifold and the cat converter pipe and would stop shortly. Your whole body and clothes smell just like that and if you do not know it yet your wife would be announcing it to you very shortly. Best way to get rid of that toxic skunk venom is to soak yourself in the tub or jacuzzi (if you have the luxury) for like 2 hours. Oh - You maybe tempted to drive the car right away but after above beer combo - that is not highly recommended. Remember - anytime - project of this magnitude - Safety first, 80% of the time under the vehicle with wheel removed, use jack stands in addition to the jack and keep the removed wheel under the front frame so if it falls it would end up on the wheel and not your melon. You have 5 wheels including spare but only one head and that is the final truth!
Cheers!
Last edited:
