Thanks lobux. Fortunately, thanks to sleepyray from this board, I was able to get in contact with the service tech from Lexus who installed the headers on his ISF. He's going to change my starter for $400. I supplied the starter of course, but all together this route saved me over $1000.

 

Reviving an old thread. Starters are becoming an issue for many. The cost of a new starter, or even a rebuilt one is stupidly expensive. I found a resource for fixing only what is broken - the bendix contacts. I have not yet purchased these parts, but will soon, and I will pull my starter to replace the contacts so I am not stranded by a stuck starter. Here is the website:

http://www.nationsautoelectric.com/densoparts.html

They specialize in Denso parts, so I'll bet $31.95 on a kit that I can solve my starter issues pretty quickly. As I mentioned before, I am on my original starter in my Supra - I have only changed the contacts in the Bendix when they went bad. The motor and brushes were hardly worn at all.

When I do this, I'll append this thread and let everyone know how hard/easy this task really is.

 

I'm starting to have this issue as well...I almost went out and bought a new battery (current battery is only 7 months old).

 

I should have updated this a while ago. There are no contacts available for our starters. The bendix is swaged when it is built at the factory, so getting it open to replace the contacts isn't practical even if you have a full machine shop to help. The "cheap" fix is to buy just the bendix from Lexus and replace it. Many will choose not to do this because the labor of getting the starter out to replace the bendix is a lot, so they'd prefer to start again from "new" if you can call a rebuilt starter new.

Looking at the cost of a "rebuilt" starter, it's pretty obvious they're replacing the bendix and testing the motor to be sure it is in good shape (they almost always are) and sending them out the door with a new bendix. So sad you can't just replace the contacts as I did on my Supra.