Rebuilding a starter motor

[StacytheBloke]

Hi all,

I am currently preping a 93 1uz for a transplant, it had a cut loom so i stipped quite a bit off to check wires whilst i reattach them so as per a lot of peoples recommendations i removed the starter for a once over.

Can any one give me any advice on rebuilding/cleaning up a currently working starter motor.

Thanks in advance

Stacy

 

[Lextreme II]

I think the best thing is to take it to an alternator and starter shop and let them rebuilt it. Make sure u double test it before installing.

 

[Smitherz]

You can get a new starter from a place like Carquest that has a lifetime guarantee on it for $150 or less!! Don't waste your time rebuilding it or putting new contacts in it. They don't want to sell you the parts to rebuild the thing cheap either.... it's not a good idea to rebuild and the new ones are nice and shiny.

 

[StacytheBloke]

Cheers for that, if a rebuild is tricky i'll give that a miss.

being in the uk (small and expensive) nobody sells reconned starters on an exchange basis (unless anyone knows different to me)

So i would have to take mine in to be rebuilt by someone who probably has never seen one before and will probably never have seen a lexus one at all before, bit wary of this since it works fine so how do i know they haven't given it a bit of a wipe over and charged me a fortune for it? (cinical maybe, but i can see it being hassle for them)

I think since my engine is going in a car with excellent access to the engine i might just pop it back in. I have tested it and it does work fine. They are fairly easy to get in the from breakers/wreckers/junk yards as in the uk we have the odd situation where new parts for cars are very expensive and used cars are very cheap.

Just to illustrate this, i drive a 93 celica gt-r, i needed new brake disks and pads, and 2 new shocks for it, it was cheaper to buy another good 80 000 mile celica (book price) than buy the bits i needed to maintain mine! (even non genuine parts!)

Terrifying, but good if you want good quality parts from a breakers because a lot of cars are too expensive to fix.

Could probably import that starter from the US and still end up spending less than if i go to a uk company.

Thanks, rant over! :rant:

 

[Smitherz]

Ah I didn't look at your location in the world. Still when reliability is most important a newly remade one or a new one altogether is the best route. Over here the cost for the rebuild parts are about half of a new one and then you figure that you have to screw around with it and clean it.... I definitely learned a lesson there.

I actually ordered a set of contacts and they billed me for a price that seemed acceptable for the contacts. BUT when I got my parts the bag only had one contact in it! Waste of money and the plunger still needed to be replaced so I said, screw it. The new one is so nice and pretty too.

 

[Deuce]

New starter motors are expensive in this part of the world. I think you will find it is pretty much a standard Denso unit similar to most toyotas. Any decent auto electrical workshop should be able to rebuild it for a reasonable price.

 

[Smitherz]

I'm sure that they use the same parts as thousands of other starters. Really the plunger and contacts is all that needs to be replaced. Along with a good cleaning and a little graphite grease and you practically have a new starter. An experienced tech can do this easily in 15 minutes once they have the parts on the bench.

 

[StacytheBloke]

Thanks for that

Found a friend of a friend who rebuilds them and says i can watch as it is quite a quick job when you have the bits, apparently the internals do match other toyotas but the starter assembly is engine specific. (gets round the bill for a spit and polish problem) Should learn something too.

When i ran the armature assembly (the most major part of the starter with a separate part number) part number through the Toyota EPC it matches a lot of other things:

4-runner (3vze)
hilux (3vze)
mr2 (5sfe)
celica (3sgte)
previa (2tzfe)

That confirms what you suspected about common parts.

Thanks for the advice, will leave it to a pro.