velandia

Guys,
back in '09 my wife's LS400 experienced the click click occasional start problem. I replaced the starter with a new unit from Lexus (can't remember which dealer). Well, here we are in '13 and the clicking problem started again and the car finally would not start.

So after going though many of the posts here I decided to just replace the terminals and plunger.

Here's the surprising bit: When I took apart the '09 starter I found that the big terminal had a small amount of wear, while the plunger and the small terminal had more wear - I measured the thickness of original and worn areas:

Part..................OrigThickness.............WornThickness
Plunger.............2.34mm......................1.34mm
Small terminal...2.73mm......................1.91mm
Big terminal.......2.68mm......................2.37mm

Note that the plunger and the small terminal were worn by about 1mm and .8mm, while the big terminal was worn by only .3mm.

To me, this suggests that the starter I received was a rebuilt unit where only the big terminal had been replaced.

So my advice to anyone that has the starter problem - replace the terminals AND the plunger.

Or at least examine the terminal and plunger before installing the "new" starter.

The car starts like a champ now - I'm hoping I don't have to do this for another 10yrs!

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

You probably wont...... I have owned 12 LS's and has had starter "clicks" on 3 of them... have never even removed the whole starter, just removed the two long bolts holding the housing on to gain access to the plunger and contacts below..... I firmly believe the starters never wear out, just the contacts....