When did your Starter fail on your 2007-2013 Tundra?

It is in fact a Bentley. Luckily Bentley's are considered "exotic" so we only have to deal with one every so often at my shop.

 

2007 5.7 with 128000 miles and starter failed. Dealer was a rip off for replacement and found a place to do genuine Toyota starter replacement for $700

 

That's a great deal, congrats!

 

How did you get such a great deal at a Toyota dealer?? My local dealer quoted $1400 and the out of state dealer was $1500 - that's a huge difference compared to your $800.

 

My regular dealer, who has done a ton of work on my Tundra and sees it every 5k miles, charges $1,400 to replace the starter.

 

238k on my 08 5.7 never had any issues except for water pump at 78k miles and a leaky radiator cap

 

The $1400 included the starter. Don't know what their rate is.

 

I'm sure a lot of the pricing with starter replacements has to do with location as well, but I could be wrong. Living in CA we take it in the wallet for almost everything and don't get me started on gas prices in the Bay Area driving the 5.7 Tundra. Luckily the guy I go to owns a Tundra and so does the owner of the shop, so finding a knowledgeable and trustworthy mechanic was key. Dealerships around me just don't give a crap about loyalty due to high demand and population. Regardless, if you need the starter replaced its kind of a pain to change yourself as a DIY'er, so I'd just suck it up, pay the money and look to save elsewhere.

 

A new way to do this nightmare seems to be to remove the solenoid from the starter and take them out separately since the solenoid is what keeps the starter from coming out. Of course you have to remove it from the new starter and put it back on once you get them back up in the hole. The people that do it this way say you don't need to remove the exhaust manifoid or even jack up the engine.

 

07 tundra, I replaced the starter last year after 220xxx miles with an Amazon starter for $150. PITA to remove and install.

 

‘07, 5.7l, starter died at 222k in Feb ‘22. Had a local shop replace it with genuine Yota starter, $750. Yota Starter was same price as a reman from FLAPS.‍♂️

 

my 2012 5.7 with 274k still running great, bought at 190k and haven't changed starter yet.

 

222,000 now, starter still going strong, thankfully.

 

Just finished replacing the starter in the wife's 08 5.7 Sequoia 4WD. This is the second time I've replaced it. Currently mileage is 307K. I did the first one at 197K. First time I used a cheap Amazon starter and for the $89 I was happy with 110K miles. This time it was beginning to fail and I would hit it with jack handle and she would start. Even taught the wife to do it as I tried to get her to trade the truck for a newer version. No luck.. it failed on a Saturday evening and it's her daily so I picked up a Duralast gold at Autozone for $250 (I know I could have bought an OEM at the dealer for $179 but that world have been Monday and I had time on Sunday to replace. Second time doing the job took me about 3 1/2 hours. I only removed 2 of the 3 heat shields. If you have a 4WD there are 3 ways to do this job.
1) Remove manifold like the manual recommends. That is a shit job especially after 100K miles and if you live in any area with rust forget about it unless you want to reverse drill out 6 bolts. Screw that..
2) Jack the motor up about 2 inches and pull between the frame and exhaust. This is a simple way but freaks people out. I did it this way this time. Use a 3/4" box end wrench on the top bolt on motor mount. Break it free and you can hand loosen it the rest of the way.
3) The way I did it the first time was to work the starter out through the back next to the trans coolant lines. This is a pain in the ass and you will cut up your hands but it will work.
*Removing the solenoid makes the job much easier coming out in ways 2 and 3 above. But I wouldn't do it on the replacement. Just me.

Tip: The upper starter bolt is a royal PIA. Connect two 12" long 3/8" extensions and reach up to the floorboard and stab the bolt and use an air or electric rachet to remove that bitch. Another tool that helped me was 24" long screwdrivers. These came in handy popping off the starter power bolt cover and helped positioning back the cable on the starter on the replacement unit.

Persistence and remember it will always fail when it's cold outside and you have to work in the freezing temps on you back but the $1200 savings in labor is worth it.

 

my sequoia starter failed last saturday in williams AZ while on vacay. had to tow 225$ to toyota flagstaff. left it there over the weekend as i am SOL and had to take the amtrak back to CA. 1300 cost to replace. will have to take the train back to AZ to pick it up and drive it back next weekend. HOLY CRAP. and this was after i had the truck checked at toyota before making the trip and everything checked out then. truck was 282,282m. not sure if the starter was replaced before, i bought it at around 265k.

 

A starter will work until it doesn't anymore. No way to tell when that will be.