Starter Going Again?

[Eltom]

Ok I have a 96 LX 450 With 173K that got a new starter like 4K ago and now it seems to be dying already. When I say seems to be dying, I mean I turn the ignition and nothing happens. Then I turn it again a few seconds later and it fires right up and other times it doesn't and still other times it takes 10 tries or it just starts right up w/no problems. The battery is registering good juice and the lights etc are all ok. Whats up? Could this starter already be fried? I replaced the 2.0 KW starter with a 1.4KW because thats what they had in stock but besides sounding a bit whimpier, I don't think this would cause it to die an early death.

Any ideas or should I just throw a new starter in there?????

[SKperformance]

change the battery cables

[Eltom]

change the battery cables

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Will I be able to get battery cables at the local parts store??

[Rookie]

Could be a lot of things. You may want to take it back to the folks that replaced your starter, and see if they can better diagnose the problem.

You say new.. was it brand new or rebuilt? The reason I ask is that replacing the starter contacts does require a special procedure to properly set the contacts. If the contacts aren't level, the plunger will not engage properly and not start. You'd think somebody who rebuild's starters would get this right though.

Rookie.

[Eltom]

Could be a lot of things.  You may want to take it back to the folks that replaced your starter, and see if they can better diagnose the problem.

You say new.. was it brand new or rebuilt?  The reason I ask is that replacing the starter contacts does require a special procedure to properly set the contacts.  If the contacts aren't level, the plunger will not engage properly and not start.  You'd think somebody who rebuild's starters would get this right though.

Rookie.

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It was a new one from the auto parts store but it might have been a 'rebuilt new one' (sorry the answer isn't clear). Anyways, it worked flawlessly for 7 months until it started not firing up every time starting about a week ago.

thanks for your ideas........Eltom

[dougjohn2]

Could be a lot of things.   You may want to take it back to the folks that replaced your starter, and see if they can better diagnose the problem.

You say new.. was it brand new or rebuilt?  The reason I ask is that replacing the starter contacts does require a special procedure to properly set the contacts.  If the contacts aren't level, the plunger will not engage properly and not start.  You'd think somebody who rebuild's starters would get this right though.

Rookie.

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It was a new one from the auto parts store but it might have been a 'rebuilt new one' (sorry the answer isn't clear). Anyways, it worked flawlessly for 7 months until it started not firing up every time starting about a week ago.

thanks for your ideas........Eltom

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It's my understanding that you can't get "NEW" starters. All are remanufactured. Normally, I'd suggest sticking with only OEM (toyota/lexus) parts. The fact that you got the 1.4kw rather than the 2kw shouldn't be a problem. The larger one is better (quicker starts), but both should work fine. The larger one was installed in vehicles destined for colder climates (or so I've read).

Could be that you have a bad replacement starter. Based on your description of the problem, I would say that it's the starter and not battery cables. Is the part still under warranty? Most replacement parts I've picked up either have lifetime or at least 12 month, 12k mile warranties.

[VGR]

It's easy to get caught up in a vicious circle. First the starter contacts go out at about 125,000 - 150,000 miles and instead of buying a new genuine Toyota starter contact kit from a Toyota dealer or a slightly used Toyota starter from a Toyota / Lexus recycling yard, the owner buys a whole new rebuilt starter from the local auto parts store, especially since the store offers a "lifetime warranty." So now they have an aftermarket starter. Then the aftermarket starter soon dies and the owner wrongly condemns the battery cables so they buy new cables from the auto parts store. Now they've got aftermarket cables in addition to an aftermarket starter and they may get caught up in a vicious circle of frequent starting system problems. Then they wrongly condemn Lexus for building unreliable cars.

[Rookie]

It's easy to get caught up in a vicious circle.  First the starter contacts go out at about 125,000 - 150,000 miles and instead of buying a new genuine Toyota starter contact kit from a Toyota dealer or a slightly used Toyota starter from a Toyota / Lexus recycling yard, the owner buys a whole new rebuilt starter from the local auto parts store, especially since the store offers a "lifetime warranty."  So now they have an aftermarket starter.  Then the aftermarket starter soon dies and the owner wrongly condemns the battery cables so they buy new cables from the auto parts store.  Now they've got aftermarket cables in addition to an aftermarket starter and they may get caught up in a vicious circle of frequent starting system problems.  Then they wrongly condemn Lexus for building unreliable cars.

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FWIW, One thing that has been made clear to me on countless occasions throughout the last year and a half of doing my own maintenance on this vehicle is that (unlike many most domestic vehiles), there are generally no aftermarket parts that are equal or comparable to OEM Toyota parts.

After hearing a couple of horror stories about starters locking up from worn contacts, I PM'd mine at 75,000 miles. Of course it looked like they could have gone another 50 to 75k. But at $35 for new contacts and plunger, no big lose.

[Jim_Chow]

[snip]

FWIW, One thing that has been made clear to me on countless occasions throughout the last year and a half of doing my own maintenance on this vehicle is that (unlike many most domestic vehiles), there are generally no aftermarket parts that are equal or comparable to OEM Toyota parts. 

After hearing a couple of horror stories about starters locking up from worn contacts, I PM'd mine at 75,000 miles.  Of course it looked like they could have gone another 50 to 75k.  But at $35 for new contacts and plunger, no big lose.

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Toyota has much higher tolerances on their parts. One parts guy said for their "reman" (remanufactured parts), if they don't meet specs, they will not refurbish the part. They will, instead, sell it to third party shops (eg, Napa, etc.) and sub in a new part, but still sell it at a reman price. The way to distinguish if the reman was actually refurbished or new is it has a sticker saying reman (can't remember if I have it backwards or not). But anyways, the moral of the story is, Toyota parts, even reman ones, have much higher tolerances and quality than any third party parts. The reason you can get domestic parts having similar quality as their OEM parts is their OEM parts don't have very high tolerances/quality in the first place! That's one reason why they fall apart by 5 yrs while Toyotas are still solid. And that's why one should flush the "initial car quality" ratings down the toilet...it's what holds together 5, 10, 15, 20 yrs down the road!

[Landpimp]

rebuilt parts store lifetime starters are normaly junk, a rebuilt just has the bad part replaced........and you will be replacing it for a lifetime ;)

reman, they go thru the whole unit and replace every wear part.

I ONLY use OEM Toyota parts(whoops, forgot this is Lexus ;)

if it has -84 on the end of the part # its a reman........and is good or better then a new one.

John

[Romer]

rebuilt parts store lifetime starters are normaly junk, a rebuilt just has the bad part replaced........and you will be replacing it for a lifetime ;)

reman, they go thru the whole unit and replace every wear part.

I ONLY use OEM Toyota parts(whoops, forgot this is Lexus ;)

if it has -84 on the end of the part # its a reman........and is good or better then a new one.

John

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You know that Lexus LX450/470 is 95% identical to the Land Cruiser 80/100's

Go over to IH8MUD in the vendor section you will find an link called " Getting a hold of Cruiser Dan". He is the parts manager at a Toyota Dealership and gives the members ther a 25% (or so) discount. He also is a great guy to get to know and will give you lots of advice. The contacts would have been cheaper than the new starter.

[Gumart1]

Not sure if this will help but on my Ford Explorer there is a starter relay under the hood that may also be the culprit, in addition to the solenoid on the starter itself. That and the ignition switch, in addition to the areas already mentioned here. So it is a bit complicated. If you can remove the starter yourself Autozone will test it for free, but I do agree on the OEM replacement here. I had the same issue and if someone tapped the starter as I was turning the key it would kick in - perhaps it was the contacts but I blew the money on a new replacement, my mistake. My Explorer's starter was "all new" and it states "all new parts" clearly on a sticker on the starter.

[Landpimp]

no starter relay on the LX or LC........this is not a ford thank god :)

intake manifold has to come off to get the starter out, prolly a 4 hour or so job.

I am ordering the Lexus fisch, that way I can cross check to make sure the LC and LX use the same part.......so I can buy my stuff thru Toyota instead of Lexus