2000 GS400 w/ 82xxx miles.

2 weeks ago I started my car in the morning and noticed a scraping noise coming from the engine bay. I pulled the car out of the garage and thought it may just go away if I drive it.. so I got it on the road... I drive about 2 car lengths and I saw the check engine light and VSC or VCS were on. Didn’t feel right so I turned the car off, but when my key was on the off position I still heard a scraping noise. Sounded like the motor was still spinning and scraping something. My neighbor (a mechanic) he heard my car and took a quick look and said it was my starter and it was not disengaging.

So I parked my car back in the garage and got a different ride. Next morning I started the car up and it ran fine. Check engine light was still on so I went to a friends shop and pulled the engine code and I think it was the crank sensor. Vsc light went off.
Maybe the started fixed it self.. but I changed the starter anyways because I figure it was a sign the starter was going bad. (pain in the *** to change a V8 starter.)

I wanted to know if anyone else had this problem. Common problem? and do you think its a smart move to change the starter?

i havent had any problems since

 

Starter solenoid motor contacts tacked closed due to arcing, causing constaint run of starter.

Agreed with starter replacement as problem resolution.