roadfrog

There's no removing of the sway bar. You're just removing the 4 mounting bolts that hold it to the chassis.

The job is rated as a "level B" for skill level. Same as a water pump replacement or belt tensioner pulley. But I agree that one must make their own judgement on what they're prepared to tackle. I also agree that "OFFICIAL" guides can sometimes be excesive and there are often workarounds. A good example of that is the Water Pump Diy...it stipulates the use of a Toyota-specific special tool to remove the water pump pulley. Bollocks. It's easily removed without.

The way I approach it, is I do what I can and if gets to the point where I can't go any farther, it's only a drive to the indy or dealer (or a complimentary tow via my AAA club) if I need to. Fortunately, that's only happened once or twice in my 35 years of DIY.

Devh

Those same short cuts are what dealers and other independents do as well but charge their customers the labor hours.

njumongkol

iTrader: (1)

Here's a few steps to get you started:

1.) Remove the under tray.
2.) Remove the passenger tire.
3.) Unbolt the oil dipstick tube (wiggle out).
4.) Remove the sway bar.
5.) Remove the rear arm.
6.) Remove the motor mount.
7.) Remove the exhaust heat shield.
8.) Remove the exhaust manifold.

Then you should see the starter...
That's all I can remember you can call or text me if you have any other questions.

Nelson
702-521-7601

aaauae

I would Highly Like to thank you for your HElp , The Starter replacement went very smooth i was able to do it my self at home , i Went for a new starter as the Rebuilt ones arent available here , though super expensive but didnt have any option .

while doing this i changed my cars Belt as well it was cracking so thought i'll do that aswell .


One thing i didnt Understand , i had disconnected the battery for all this , but now the Car drives very different much lighter much faster . Acceleration is totally different .

Thanks guys who Chimed in aswell

GaBill

I just had to have the starter replaced on my 07 LS460. It suddenly quit without warning. The Toyota dealer charged me in excess of $1600. for the privilege. I was also without the car for two days. The R&R labor is in excess of 7 hours.

njumongkol

iTrader: (1)

Glad it worked out!

LS460ride

So my car had only 50K miles on it and the starter went out and really didn't want to spend $1K+ for someone to change a starter. Was pretty disappointed with how low of mileage with the starter going.

Looked online for info and came across this board and njumongkol was very helpful sharing his tips. Went ahead and did the change...wasn't as bad as i thought but was time consuming. Anyways went ahead and documented the procedure for anyone who may have to deal with the same issue.

roadfrog

wow. First post and it's a beaut! Well done and thanks for sharing.

CRowe14

This should be in the sticky.

roadfrog

Definitely! Moderators??

Doublebase

I'm speechless. In part because this is awesome and in part because this is ridiculous to change a starter. The exhaust manifold has to come off?? Jesus.

Pistachio

iTrader: (1)

Hahahaha. You should see the starter change for LS400s.

roadfrog

Yeah, no kidding. What were they thinking? In comparison, the 460 is a breeze.

macjac69

Mine crapped this am. Started fine at home got me to Wal Mart and press eng. start and starter whine/spin, w/no engagement. I'm pretty sure batt. is fine cleaned it anyway no dice. Sounds like selenoid the way it's doing. I hate days like today.....

Steve748

Thanks LS460ride for posting your procedure. I used it this week to replace my starter. Took me a week of spare time to replace it. Had to do it laying underneath the car while on jack stands, no fun. But the car starts now. This concluded a 2 week ordeal in which I spent the first week of spare time wrongly removing the intake manifold only to find no starter under there. Note to self; do more research before wrench.
As a side note, I had odd looks from the Lexus dealer when I went to order the exhaust manifold. On a good note, the parts guy ordered me a replacement navi hard drive for $970 versus $1600. I'm almost on the way to a 100% functioning car.
Thanks again for your help!!!