Starter replacement frequency

My OEM starter lasted for 119K miles on my 97 4Runner (4WD, 5VZFE engine). I replaced that with one from Advanced Auto that came with a lift time warranty. That starter lasted only 46K miles! Ended up replacing again. The second one worked for 72K miles and I ended up replacing it again yesterday. All the replacement starters are rebuilt, heavy duty versions of the starter and yet, they have not lasted anywhere close to the original starter. I am curious. What do folks see regarding longevity of their starters?

 

About 250-300k miles

Your issue is you replaced it with a non-OEM variant; big mistake.

Starters rarely need replacing, a simple $20 in parts takes care of replacing the contacts and plunger.

 

Starters can be re built very easily and cheaply for what its worth in the future.

 

Wow 250K-300K! Even my original starter only made it to 119K.
The starters that I had gotten, were all OEM starters but were obviously rebuilt with a third party's brushes, ..., etc. I reached out to McGeorge Toyota but all they have, is rebuilt starters too. Perhaps theirs is a better quality. Anyway I was in a jam and could not wait for shipping

 

Yeah tons of people normally get upwards of almost 300k miles before replacing them.

Then you've got other members posting about a no-start issue, only to replace their starter and continue to have a no-start issue because they were too quick to throw money at new parts without proper diagnosis.

Here's my old one, and the parts replaced -

 

Where do you get the parts? I can't find them on the dealer sites,
and I am a little unsure about the TAKPART or GSKMotor kits on Amazon.

Can you post a link to a solid source?

 

I got about 275k and it was about 15 years out of my original starter. The replacement lasted about ten years. Depends on how much rain you drive in prob.

 

Not hard to search, you just need to buy the parts appropriate to your starter.

 

282k miles. Original starter. And alternator. I have the kit for replacing the contacts in both. But so far there is no evidence either is wearing out.

Never EVER replace the Starter and Alternator in a TOYOTA with a big box version. They are cheap Chinese trash and not built or rebuilt to OEM specs.

Just rebuild them yourself.

 

Not sure why people go off mileage for things like a starter.

Some guys may have 100k+ miles on the starter but they don't tell you its all highway and they drive 100+ one way.

In my Tundra I don't make long trips. 90% of my trips is just towing the boat to the pier 2 miles away. If I can make it to 50k I'd be damn happy. That would make it 10 years old at the rate I'm going.

 

Most likely not a mileage thing but more of an emphasis as to "how long it lasted" cause still, many 4Rs are expected to be really high mileage not to mention the newest 3rd Gen is over 21 years old.

 

Agreed. One can also throw in the climate factor. However since there is no direct way of counting the number of start cycles or the climate in which the starter is operating under, mileage becomes the next best surrogate.