I have read a great deal about the starter contact problem and have not had any of the symptoms until recently. The car will not start on the first try only about 1 in 50 starts. Is this the begining of the end? I do not want to ruin the starter and can replace the contacts myself but i was just wondering if this is indeed the starter problem or if the problem is much more frequent than what i am experiencing.

 

Sounds like your contacts are going out, as you suspect.

Although I haven't replaced the plunger and contacts, I understand it to be a fairly easy job. There's a write up either here or at www.lexusownersclub.com. You'll definitely find a ton of information on this at www.ih8mud.com -- if you search the latter site, limit your search to the 100 series forum.

A new starter for the 450 runs aprox $300. I suspect a similar price would be charged for the 470 starter. If you're going to replace the starter altogether, I suggest getting the part from Toyota, rather than Lexus and save yourself a few bucks.

Cheers.

 

Your symptoms sound like the ones I had when my starter contacts went bad. The difficulty starting was a rare event in the beginning, enough so that you forget that there was even a problem at all. Then a few weeks later it became an every other day thing. For me this only happened on cold starts.

How many miles on your LX? Seems as though many have gone south at around 90k.

Link to write up:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...arter+contacts

 

That's the link! (I was too lazy to search for it )

It's best to correct the problem before the contacts get too bad. I had my starter get stuck ON once. Not fun at all. I almost fried my alternator.

 

i have 127,000 miles. I sometimes do forget about the problem because it is such a low occurence. I will start reading and getting the parts. Thanks guys.

 

BTW the contacts are pretty cheap, I paid $25 at my local dealership. I also did not replace the intake manifold gaskets, and I don't think that others here have either. Do this sooner than later! Let me know if you need any help.

Chris

 

RPH74 do you live in st. louis? I thought that one of your posts said that you did. I live in Edwardsville, Illinois and go to MU in columbia. Just curious as to where you are located.

 

Actually I used to live in St. Louis (the hill, then Shrewsbury) and even Collinsville, IL for one year. But now I am in Springfield, MO-and loving it by the way.

 

That is pretty wild! I actually live in Glen Carbon which is a stone throw away from collinsville. I think that Columbia is only like 45 minutes from spingfield MO isnt it?

 

yes, it is your starter.....i JUST went thru this......

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hreadid=139357

turns out it started just after i took delivery of it in april, however the starter lasted till early this month. i would NOT suggest going this long (i didnt know at the time, just thought it was the battery) as you never know when it will die for good....i got lucky as for it didnt give up completely in my travels this summer.....had it, that would have been a bummer.

my suggestion? get it fixed ASAP as you dont want to get stranded when it dies for good.

regards,
terry

 

Those of you that have replaced the contacts...where did you buy them and what is the model # or name. I am having a difficult time finding them at the dealership and do not know what to buy from an auto parts store. I want to get this fixed asap and just cannot get the parts.

 

I get all my parts from Dan Busey at American Toyota (Albuquerque, NM). Depending on how much your order, you may get free shipping (I don't recall the minimum dollar amount, but I tend to order between $80 and $150 when I order -- parts for 2 LXs add up quickly sometimes ) and no sales tax if outside of NM.

1-800-432-6668 extension 8.

 

one might also try Jay Marks Toyota....as i recall they give discounts to Toyota/Lexus car club members....

http://www.toyotaworld.com/

regards,
terry

 

Yeah that's cool! I think that Columbia is like 1½ to 2 hours away from here. I haven't been though, so I don't know.

I got my contacts from my local Toyota dealer in Springfield, it cannot be purchased from your local parts store (though I do believe that you can buy the whole starter from a parts store). They had them in stock when I needed them last year, and their phone # is 417-889-9000.

 

I did the starter contact replacment this weekend and ran into a few problems. I think that i am done trying to work on this truck for a while. I replaced the contacts fine but when everything got put back together i had a serious air leak somewhere and the engine did not idle very well. I triple checked every hose and replaced clamps and the whole lot but nothing seemed to fix the problem. I finally figured that it must be the manifold gaskets and so i ordered them this morning from my local dealer and will have them tomorrow. The tech there siad that this is most likely the problem and that they always replace the gaskets when the remove the manifold because they have had problems like this before. If anyone else is planning this procedure i would highly reccomend replacing the gaskets and torquing the mnifold bolts to the 13lbs specs so that you do not have the problem that i did. I guess that you guys that did not replace the gaskets got lucky and just my luck i found out the hard way and will not have my truck for a few days.