Yes, it's deep under the intake manifold, near the transmission bell housing. Mounting bolts and wires is a pain in the ****.

At least you can negotiate with the shop about replacement parts (quality).

 

Yes and I have never had a starter issue with any of my previous 2gs cars. The last one had 165,000 on it when I sold it so I'm a bit surprised to have an issue with the starter.

 

DundukovEM - Thank you for your help!

 

My daily driven '03 GS has 275,000 miles on it and is still going strong. Your vehicle's mileage is much lower than expected for its model year. Perhaps, due to long-term parking, the internal parts of the starter began to stick. Sometimes daily use is better than long-term parking.

 

I bought it a little over a year ago and I drive it several times a week. The previous owner was an older gentleman that passed and I expect it sat a lot before it was sold. I was hoping something with low miles would require less maintenance, but it has age so parts will fail with age. Congrats on the miles! I should have kept my first 98 GS it would probably have that kind of mileage on on it by now.

 

I found this and yea...looks like a heck of a job!

 

Yup! This is why the quality of the replacement part is of great importance. You won't want to do (pay) it all again after the short period of time the junk parts last.

 

If you want to buy a new starter go OEM(Toyota). The dealer also have remanufactured starters much cheaper.

I have done many Toyota/Lexus starters by replacing the contacts and plunger, because my friends and I have more time than money, over many years, not one has failed. Heck that is what a remanufactured starter is.

Good luck and patience is your friend.

Here is one of the best DIY write ups on ClubLexus from 2008

1999 Lexus GS 400 Starting Problems

 

Got the starter replaced today and it took care of the problem for me.
Denso Starter $330
Intake Manifold Gasket 17171-50020 $68.22
Throttle Body Gasket 22271-50042 $35.05

 

I've registered to add my own experience with the same malady on a vehicle a side customer of mine has.

The one dead giveaway that narrowed down the diagnosis was that the issue occurred shortly after the first significant rain. Not a frequent occurrence here in California.
​​The vehicle also had a similar issue a year ago and replacing the starter relay along with the APPS got it up and running until a week ago.

The issue was caused by a water leak through the big grommet that runs the wiring harness through the firewall and was running down the wires and straight into the box.
​​​​. Removing the bottom connector on the front revealed corrosion residue, and so did the four connectors on the back of the box. We tried removing the box and drying it overnight. The vehicle stopped cranking on its own, but still had a crank, but no start, and the ECM didn't appear to power on. I ordered a used junction box and once it was installed, the patient came back to life.





I took this one apart when I tried to get one from a local salvage yard just to find corrosion in all of the same spots as my customer's. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

 

Water and electricity never get along nicely. I'm in the midst of troubleshooting a "ghost cranking" issue on my ' 99 300GS. I was greeted by a dead battery yesterday, the car was running perfectly the day before. I hung a pair of jumper cables on it and the car started "auto" cranking as soon as I made the last connection.That explained the sudden dead battery issue. We had quite a bit of rain and I was driving in it. Seems like something got wet in the starter circuit and it decided to power itself up overnight, that's what drained the battery. I pulled out the starter relay and the starter disengaged. I did a Key Off voltage check at the starter relay socket and measured 7.5 volts at terminal 1 ( relay coil ). That voltage isn't a real "solid 12 volt short but it's just on the threshold of being able to energize the coil so I'm suspecting that I might have gotten some water intrusion and green sludge is growing in the same box. I get the full 12 volts at pin 1 of the Starter relay when I turn the key to the start Position. I took a lunch break and an hour later I took another voltage measurement at pin 1. It had dropped down to 4 volts this time, kinda like some of that moisture had dried up and was less conductive. Which fuse box are you looking at, is it the left hand kick panel? Thanks

 

I had this same problem a couple years apart posted earlier in this thread. I was curious as to this new theory of water ingress. I inspected mine today 2001 225K miles in Houston average 1" rain a week miserable place to live. Zero signs of water ingress, boot was inspected under hood (had to remove bolts on fuse holder and move of to way) boot perfect flawless. All that said WHAT WILL LET WATER INTO THAT AREA IS PLUGGED SUNROOF DRAINS. be careful not to use too much compress air and blow the drain apart. I do believe that area can accumulate condensation. Even in the pics the corrosion is very isolated, why not everything corroded?


If yours autostart again pull the 5amp ignition switch fuse in the panel box in driver side footwell. first time mine auto started I did this and it stopped it. replaced ignition switch and went 18 months before starter shorted...