Bad Starter Contacts/replacing Starter '98 400

[imatigerfan]

RE: 1998 LS400 with 129K miles

I've done my research and it appears that I have a classic problem the is not uncommon in Lexus cars -- bad starter contacts.

Car went for about two months with the click-click-click before it finally would turn over. Batter has been checked and has plenty of juice. Now the starter won't turn over at all.

So my question to the group -- just how hard is it to drop the starter and replace it. I've found rebuilt ones online for about $140.

I'm a pretty handy guy -- worked on many cars over my life. Haven't really done anything with the 400 (haven't needed to).

Am I safe to launch into this project?

[ToddLS400]

Yep, that's exactly what was wrong with my '90 LS400 starter a few months ago. Bad contacts. I had the shop replace the contacts and clean the starter. Now it starts on the first turn everytime. One thing that I've noticed is that once you turn the key, let it go back to the on position. Don't hold the key to the right while starting as this is not necessary. Once you turn it once to the right, it will continue to crank and turn over automatically.

Unless you have a lot of time and tools, you probably don't want to or you can't do this job. The starter is buried at the back of the engine below the manifolds. Why would they do that to such a common part that goes out way before the car is done? It's like a water pump in the replacement sense to me. It's a 5+ hour shop job via the manual. That means a 10+ hour job for us DIY at home mechanics. I paid about $350 total for parts and labor. You do not need to replace the whole starter, just the contacts like you've heard. You can get the contacts by themselves for $30 or so from the Lexus dealer. You simply open up the starter and replace them. My mechanic used high pressure air to clean out the starter after he got it out. He said everything looked great besides the worn out contacts.

If you do this project yourself, please keep us posted on how you did it and how long it took. You have to remove a lot of stuff on the top of the engine just to access the manifold on the side of the starter.

[Rich Sweitzer]

Correction:

The power steering pump is right over the alternator, not the starter. As pointed out the starter is buried under the intake manifolds in the upper center rear of the engine (in the "V" of the engine).

[ToddLS400]

Yes, that's right Rich, ps pump over the alternator. I had that mixed up. Thanks.

[VBdenny]

A couple on thoughts on this.

Todd said that the starter has an automatic start thing. I've noticed this, though I've never seen it mentioned anywhere else. I was kind of freaked out when I got the car and wasn't sure that it was suppose to do that. Sometimes though, it seems like mine hangs engaged longer than it needs. Is this normal?

Next, can you replace the contacts without removing the starter. I mean I like car work and all and have changed many starters but it's never been a job I particularily enjoy.

This is a good topic because it's one of those things that all of us will face in the future if we haven't already been there (which I haven't).

Thanks for the support! I still feel it's better to do the work yourself if you have the ambition because nobody cares for your car as you do.

Denny

[imatigerfan]

Well…the job is definitely doable. Took me about 8 hours, and that’s doing the job twice unfortunately (see notes below about rubber o-ring on the water bypass tube). Otherwise, it would have been a 6 hour job.

If you don’t have the service manual, pay the annual subscription to AllDataDIY (http://www.alldatadiy.com/) and download the instructions on how to R/R the starter. Well worth the $24.95/year fee.

I purchased a rebuilt Bosch starter from The Parts Bin (http://www.thepartsbin.com/) for $145. Good group of people to work with.

The most valuable tools you’ll need:

• A Camcorder to record the incredible detail of countless wireless and vacuum lines you’ll need to disconnect. You may need to refer to the tape as you try to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.

• A set of magnetic socket inserts. There are way too many bolts that are impossible to get out/in without them.

• A flexible magnetic pickup tool for the countless bolts you’ll drop none-the-less.

Some notes that are not in the AllData spec sheets on the starter R/R.

• The R/R details for the starter only give you a generalized instruction on “removing the intake manifold”. This is by far the most difficult task. Look up removing the cylinder head and you’ll get a better description of how to remove the intake manifold.

• Drop the coolant level to below the water pump line to avoid it spilling all over the engine block.

• There is a rather innocent o-ring on an aluminum water bypass tube that runs underneath the intake manifold. You have to remove the tube in order to get at the starter. REPLACE THE O-RING WITH A NEW ONE!!!! Doesn’t matter how good it looks. IT WILL LEAK WHEN YOU START THE CAR AGAIN. A $0.45 part is well worth the expense to avoid doing the job twice like I had to do. I must admit, it only took me 40 minutes to yank the intake manifold the second time. And 30 minutes to put it back in.

• Put liquid soap on the O-ring to keep it from binding in the pressure fit hole on the back side of the water pump.

• I did not need to replace the manifold gaskets – they were in fine shape.

• I did not need to replace the gaskets on the coolant bridge that links the two sides of the block together.

Every quote I obtained was between $800 to $950. Most all quoted the book rate of 5.5 hours. However, they all wanted to sell me the rebuilt starter at full list of $450.

So I’m sitting here fat and happy with an extra $800 in my pocket now. Life is good.

[SRK]

Excellent job, well done. Your perseverance and attention to detail are great. I now feel better about the day I have to dig into my engine to replace the starter. Thanks.

[JPI]

This whole job is easy but the hardest part is getting the two bolts on the starter to line up. Usually take me about 1.5 to 2 hrs. It's wise to test out the starter before putting it back together ;)

JP IMPORTZ

[imatigerfan]

Agree whole heartedly on aligning the starter bolts (including dropping one down on top of the tranny and fishing around for 30 minutes with a magnet trying to find it).

Finally discovered that if I didn't seat the starter all the way in its mount, it was much easier to start the bolts than to do otherwise.