Blavatsky

One cold day last week, go to start the LS...click-click-starts. Shut it off, try again click-click-click-starts. WTF. End up almost getting stranded but am able to get it to my mechanic. Call up carson toyota - $300 for the starter and gaskets, and it won't be here till Friday of this week.

So here is my rant...first off, I've never replaced a starter in a car and I've had higher mileage ones. But I do have over 120k on the car, so I can chalk it up to wear and tear....either way being with no car puts a damper on anyone's day, and I JUST sold my second car (93 acura legend) like 2 weeks ago.

But the real kicker is the starter location..under the intake manifold? So I'm looking at a minimum of 5 hours labor (independent shop) because the geniuses at toyota put a fallible crucial part to where you have to disable the top end of the engine to get at it. Thanks guys.

Is there a car with a *worse* starter spot? Maybe a jaguar or something?

McSwine

The starter on my 2000 failed...less than one week after I bought it. After some very tedious wrangling with the dealer I bought it from, I got it replaced for $500, or half of what they wanted to charge me. They probably would not have paid anything, but the service manager let it slip that they (the service dept) told the previous owner it needed to be replaced. The whole incident has sort of soured my Lexus ownership experience.

I've turned a wrench or two in my time, but this was a little more than I wanted to tackle. I wish I had a good independent shop to take it to.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Worse starter location, sure there are some -- Though this one is pretty bad.

The Nissan Axxess, early 90's -- Had it at the bottom of engine area above right axle shaft. You HAD to remove the axle shaft to get the start out. I mean come on.

The starter in my 240sx wasn't in a great spot,.. but I managed to replace it with some serious patience SQUEEZING it out at different angles. The starter on my Nissan 300zx was in a terrible spot,.. about like the Lexus.. Rear corner of engine,..about midway. You had to take half the engine apart to get to it.

Thats the only thing,.. you can't design every part to be easily accessible -- Some things just are hard to get to. I would think cars would become 'easier' to work on as time progressed not harder as they have been. Sort of like how computers have changed over the past 20 years. More snap in/gates, and so on. Oh well,.. it keeps mechanics in business and in demand.

SHOLEXMAN

Yeah there is and it is the Gm product Cadillacs with northstar v8's in them. I did one of those before what a pain in the ****. Took me about 5 hours the first time and it was under the intake manifold similar too the 1uzfe motors.

tcbted

Yeah, but on the Cadillac forums, they feel that the isolated location of the starter helps the lifespan, as its up off the road, away from debris, salt, slush, etc.
I guess the same could be said for the location of the LS400's starter.

TMaxxTim

Yea, but they also think 120K is a good life for a starter in their northstar. While we look at 120k for a starter and go "what went wrong with this thing so soon???"

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

see my new thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho....php?p=3391541

steveski

I got mine changed at the Lexus dealer in 2000 and they charge 1/2 which came to $500. Bummer - sorry to hear that.

Blavatsky

Good write up Grand_LS, unfortunately i'm just not that mechanically inclined.
I definitely see the value in work a mechanic has to put into it, just hate paying
Steveski, was that $500 with labor and parts? If so that is a really good deal.
I'm figuring about $700 for me once I'm done, which stings pretty bad considering I still need ball joints and bushings to fix some ride problems.
I rarely complain about the lexus but this has definitely taken my satisfaction down a notch.

turbosix

you can do this on a nice saturday afternoon.

you do not need the gaskets btw

MadMax96

Holy crap - and I thought the location of the starter on my sisters New Beetle was bad (came out through the top)

I just turned 143k miles on my '99 - I sure hope it doesn't fail on me. That starter looks pretty small too - almost like the one on my motorcycle!

The only thing I can hope for is that it's already been replaced since I got the car with 110k miles and I'm the 3rd owner.

Blavatsky

UPDATE: Finally got the starter from carson toyota...ordered thursday before last, so almost 2 flippin weeks to get a part.
Another weird thing, is it says its a reman even though I ordered new (??) but I called Luis in parts and he assured me all LS400 starters are reman at this point, but have 100% new parts inside (ie, not a refurb). With any luck I'll be back on the road this week, it's the longest I've gone with no car since I was a teenager. I was seriously about to go buy a $1000 junker car if they didn't get this to me soon.

PK_Celsior

iTrader: (18)

im waitin for mine to die soon :x. mine was first replaced at 130k miles. so the next one due around 200k - 260k ahhhhh. i heard its a big problemooo for the LS400. They pretty much break either or lol. o welps still more dependable than other cars right.

Blavatsky

Week 3 has come and gone and I have no car...part has been with the mechanic a week now, I'm about to lose it. i guess I lost my place in line behind a bunch of other cars. Appreciate your LS, if you don't have it for awhile it is quite depressing.

seanl

My 97 LS400's starter died at 89K miles, which I find inexcuseable on a car that cost $55K brand new. While I'm handy and have all the tools, air compressor, etc, I didn't feel like tackling the job at home. I outsourced the R&R to an independent Lexus shop here in the Bay Area. I believe I paid around $900 out the door for the repair. No problems since.

The other LS problem area is the power steering pump. Mine began leaking at ~125K miles. But since I do my own oil changes, I noticed the seepage and got it fixed BEFORE it ruined the alternator. That was also $900 job.

The starter and pwr steering are the only two 'repairs' I've had done in the past 7.5 years and almost 100K miles of driving.