Or your heat exchanger at the same time….
Definitive list of starter removal methods
- Thread starter tbisaacs
- Start date
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Appreciate it but going to hand this job off to Toyota. Also appreciate the write up, read through several times since you posted but not willing to deal with a broken manifold stud if I were to be unlucky. Hats off to youGood luck
Put about 800 miles over the last two weeks up and down Asheville and Boone. Had no issues or indication. Went to the lake Saturday, came home and parked. Sunday no start. That was that. I drug my feet and got super lucky it left me in my driveway.
sleepycruiser
I will get by….I will survive
I’m in the Asheville area….starter replacement party??
My 2011 LC decided not to start at 207,000 miles. I was all packed heading back from hunting in Devils Lake ND. I had zero warnings that the starter was going to fail. I was at the mercy of Lake Toyota in Devils Lake ND. They got me on the road in under 24 hours. They had to use a rebuilt starter in order to get me going, but they restored faith to Toyota service. They did what they had to inorder to get parts. They went through wheel well, dropped exhaust manifold. Put in new gaskets, and studs. The one video at the start of this thread that shows how Toyota does it seems right on.
Just got mine done at 199K on my 2013 LX - no signs of issues just wanted to get it done. At Lexus dealer paid $1200 out-the-door which I thought was pretty fair from the research I've done. This included taking off my Bud Built Cat guards + giving me the old starter to look at (they said they were going to keep for a core).
I could tell in the pics/video they sent that they removed the entire exhaust manifold to get to it. Did it all in one day and no issues.
WOW there is a big difference upon startup in the sound the starter makes. Not sure if that meant mine was on its way out but it's quite noticeable. Much more high pitched. So makes it sting a little less I guess.
I have the old starter in case anyone is interested in it/wants to look at it. The teeth were good so like others have said assuming it's all in the solenoid.
I could tell in the pics/video they sent that they removed the entire exhaust manifold to get to it. Did it all in one day and no issues.
WOW there is a big difference upon startup in the sound the starter makes. Not sure if that meant mine was on its way out but it's quite noticeable. Much more high pitched. So makes it sting a little less I guess.
I have the old starter in case anyone is interested in it/wants to look at it. The teeth were good so like others have said assuming it's all in the solenoid.
I hate you guys for making me think this was a 2 banana job.... 
What a nightmare. I started yesterday and got as far as removing the mid pipe. I loosened the lower bolt on the starter but could not budge the upper. I didn't have a 6 point offset wrench and was starting to round the bolt so I stopped to reassess.
Then I made the mistake of looking at the gasket and counting 14 bolt holes. After looking at the manifold over and over and over I am like I can't see 14 nuts. No way am I trying this. So I put it all back together and decided to take it somewhere to have it done.
Today I re-read the instructions and realized there are only 10 of the 14 holes used. Since I had left the outer Great Value heat shield and the 2 flaps off, I took another look. I could see 9 of the 10 nuts and knew where the 10th was. So tore it all back apart and tried to get the midpipe all of the way out. Wasn't happening. So shoved it back as far as possible and started on the manifold. Got a nice snap as 2 nuts broke free and no noise at all from the rest. The 2 on the front came off way too easily but who's complaining. (there was oil seepage around that part of the gasket so....) After a 15 min battle I was able to get the manifold twisted past the midpipe and out of the way. Removed the inner Great Value heat shield, popped the lower bolt loose and then nothing. That top bolt wasn't budging. I didn't have any 6 point wrenches so had to resort to a ratchet and socket. But even with the coolant hoses loose I could only get a short 1/4" ratchet in there. Still couldn't budge it. So took a 13mm deep socket and a 3" extension, slid it over the handle and that gave me just enough leverage to pop it.
Got the starter out, new one in and realized that the locking tab on the single wire hookup had broken off somewhere. So double zipped tied that connector cause I don't ever want to go back in there and continued on. Spent way too long trying to get the manifold back up and into place. Getting the nuts off of the manifold was pretty easy. Getting them back on is like solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded. What a pain. Finally got those torqued up. Put the dipstick tube in then tried to put the outer heat shield in place. DON'T Do That. You can't get the front bolt into place because it is behind the dipstick. Loosened it back up got the heat shield bolted up and tightened the dipstick back up.
Everything else went pretty smoothly except the front O2 sensor connector has slipped off the metal bracket and I couldn't for the life of me get it back on. Hopefully that won't cause any issues later.
Engine fired right up. Lots of smoke from the penetrating oil. Smells terrible. Took her around the block, put the skids back in place (I had done an oil change yesterday while the front end was up).
I would rank this job as annoying as the Valley Plate fix. I bow to you guys that could do this in a few hours. I have about 12 hours in over 2 days and 2 attempts. And this was preventative maintenance. 2009 with 165K on the clock. Have had the started for 4 years. Figured it was time.
What a nightmare. I started yesterday and got as far as removing the mid pipe. I loosened the lower bolt on the starter but could not budge the upper. I didn't have a 6 point offset wrench and was starting to round the bolt so I stopped to reassess.
Then I made the mistake of looking at the gasket and counting 14 bolt holes. After looking at the manifold over and over and over I am like I can't see 14 nuts. No way am I trying this. So I put it all back together and decided to take it somewhere to have it done.
Today I re-read the instructions and realized there are only 10 of the 14 holes used. Since I had left the outer Great Value heat shield and the 2 flaps off, I took another look. I could see 9 of the 10 nuts and knew where the 10th was. So tore it all back apart and tried to get the midpipe all of the way out. Wasn't happening. So shoved it back as far as possible and started on the manifold. Got a nice snap as 2 nuts broke free and no noise at all from the rest. The 2 on the front came off way too easily but who's complaining. (there was oil seepage around that part of the gasket so....) After a 15 min battle I was able to get the manifold twisted past the midpipe and out of the way. Removed the inner Great Value heat shield, popped the lower bolt loose and then nothing. That top bolt wasn't budging. I didn't have any 6 point wrenches so had to resort to a ratchet and socket. But even with the coolant hoses loose I could only get a short 1/4" ratchet in there. Still couldn't budge it. So took a 13mm deep socket and a 3" extension, slid it over the handle and that gave me just enough leverage to pop it.
Got the starter out, new one in and realized that the locking tab on the single wire hookup had broken off somewhere. So double zipped tied that connector cause I don't ever want to go back in there and continued on. Spent way too long trying to get the manifold back up and into place. Getting the nuts off of the manifold was pretty easy. Getting them back on is like solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded. What a pain. Finally got those torqued up. Put the dipstick tube in then tried to put the outer heat shield in place. DON'T Do That. You can't get the front bolt into place because it is behind the dipstick. Loosened it back up got the heat shield bolted up and tightened the dipstick back up.
Everything else went pretty smoothly except the front O2 sensor connector has slipped off the metal bracket and I couldn't for the life of me get it back on. Hopefully that won't cause any issues later.
Engine fired right up. Lots of smoke from the penetrating oil. Smells terrible. Took her around the block, put the skids back in place (I had done an oil change yesterday while the front end was up).
I would rank this job as annoying as the Valley Plate fix. I bow to you guys that could do this in a few hours. I have about 12 hours in over 2 days and 2 attempts. And this was preventative maintenance. 2009 with 165K on the clock. Have had the started for 4 years. Figured it was time.
Who the heck made you think this was a 2 banana job????? Was that somewhere in this thread? If it is, mods need to remove/edit that post.
Glad you got it solved though.
No, I knew I was in for a rough time. Just didn't expect it to be this bad. And I have a fairly rust free SUV
I had to replace the starter wire connector too when I did mine recently. I would recommend to anyone digging in for this job, have the connector on hand.
90980-11400
90980-11400