Starter turned to shrapnel

[Jblueskull]

Wadup everyone. So my 2004 lx470 starter decided to blow to smithereens. And it was then rattling around in the bell housing for a couple minutes while I tried to locate where the sound was coming from. I took some pictures of the flex plate from below cause I am curious if this looks like I need to replace the flex plate as well. There is sparkly bits all at the bottom of the bell housing as well. Also I cannot locate where the rattling is coming from since there wasn’t any large pieces at the bottom of the bell housing. Anyways if anyone knows this kinda stuff let me know how f’ed I am

 

[BonS]

Two things I can thin of. You're going to remove the starter anyway so do it to see what's missing and that'll suggest what you're looking for. Or, you can use a borescope to peer up into the space from below to try and see what's in there and hopefully how to get it out!

 

[GTV]

Also, rotate the engine to get a view of the rest of the flex plate teeth. I wouldn't worry about what you're seeing there too much.

It looks like a starter bendix failure.

 

[SteveH]

Your biggest worry is what starter parts are in the bottom. How much metal is missing from your starter? That might give you a clue as to how many metal bits are down below where they can bounce around.

 

[Jblueskull]

Thanks yall. Got the starter switched out. The front half of the starter had self disassembled haha. Only a few bigger metal chunks. I was able to get them out and I just vacuumed out as much random metal bits as I could. She starts up great again. Definitely learned my lesson, do not ignore grinding sounds on start up.