danmm7

I've had a couple of older American cars (2 pickup trucks actually) leave me stranded on parking lots due to failed starters. Each had around 120-130k miles. One had a manual transmission, so i was able to start the car after some pushing down the hill and get home. The other one required a tow truck.

Now, going to my 2005 Lexus GX470 with 116k miles. It has original starter and shows no issues at the moment. I use the SUV for family trips (3 small children) to our mountain cabin. This is 3-4 hours way from home. In the winter, it could be a 6+ hrs drive. If my car can't start there, or somewhere in the middle of the trip - i am in real trouble, given all the kids, weather, luggage, etc.

So, here are my questions......

1. How many of you here still have the original starter on your GX470 and how many miles do you have on the truck? I am trying to gauge if this is a part that fails often after certain mileage.

2. For those who had a bad/failed starter, did you get ANY early warning signs? Both of my American trucks gave me ZERO advanced warning.

3. Haven't looked carefully under the GX470, but i am wondering it will be too much of a project to just replace the starter now, as preventive maintenance. The part itself is not expensive. I don't mind a couple of hours of work if this will save me from being stuck in the middle of nowhere.


Thanks!

Crispy3M

Just my opinion but you could buy a new one today and it could fail tomorrow. Happens all the time.

I wouldn't worry about it but if you really want to be prepared, just pick one up and carry it with you along with a small tool kit with the tools needed to do the job.

Personally, I never leave home without my Battery Pack, Tool Kit & Tow Strap.

Good Luck,

Chris

YoshiMan

The starter motor on the Toyota V8's is generally considered to be very robust and alot of them last over 200,000 miles. And you aren't going to like this at all, but it is not accessable from under the truck, because it is underneith the intake manifold!:

As much of a pain as this is, its one of the reasons it lasts so long, as it is not exposed to road debris and is also sheilded from the hot exhaust manifolds

varithms

Keep the terminals clean and replace batteries and cables as soon as they are bad. Jump starts and low voltage kill starters.

mann777

180K still going strong on the OEM. fully agree with Yoshi, go for the OEM they are absolutely robust, I had a member on this forum who has gone over 274K with the OEM starter.

danmm7

Great feedback!

I guess, with only 116k miles on the truck and still having the OEM starter, i should be safe for the next at least 50k miles....


Sounds like, the real question i should have asked ... is there anyone on this forum who has actually replaced their original starter and if so, at what mileage?

jvangun

I just had the starter replaced on my '07 w/ 69k miles. It may be a coincidence but for a couple weeks leading up to it I noticed that the engine idle was a bit more high pitch when I was in my garage. When I brought it in for the starter I told the tech about the noise and he said we see if the new alternator fixed it. When the starter was replaced the noise stopped. Mine also gave me about 12 hours notice when I started the car in the morn the battery light was on. Drove it throughout the day and towards the end lights started appearing on the dash.

danmm7

Are you talking about the starter or the alternator?
You are mentioning both in your posting above.

Crispy3M

Yep... that was a pretty confusing post