Well guys, I promised a DIY for the 3.2 Starter replacement, but I have to admit I failed in my attempts. First off, I was planning on posting pics, but you should be able to imagine how hard this was just by my explanation.

According to Chiltons, (which sucks by the way, always get Haynes), to access/remove the starter you have to remove the front driver's side CV axle, as well as remove the exhaust.

I started this project at 9am, gave up at 8pm in the dark. The first part was easy, remove the wheel, brake calliper bolts, rotor screws, and rotor. Easy enough. Then I proceeded to seperate the lower ball joint, steering hook up, and strut fork, (which you will need a ball joint seperator for).

After seperating those components, I was able to rotate the knuckle, and get a better view of what I was working with... The next step would be to remove the CV axle itself... For those of you that don't know, the CV axle nut is a 36 mm nut, which is torqued at about 181 foot lbs. You will need either air tools, a really nice/heavy duty electric impact, or big ass breaker bar just to get it to budge.

After removing the nut, I started to figure out how to get the axle to slide out of the splines in the knuckle. Unfortunately, the CV shaft had seized inside the knuckle and was not budging...IMPORTANT... (If at any part of this process you decide to use a hammer, use a brass hammer to avoid damaging threads, etc...)

After a while of smacking, pulling, banging, and wrenching, the CV axle would not budge... After that, I seperated the upper ball joint, disconnected the ABS line, and popped the axle out of the transmission with a pry bar (very easy), and just removed the whole axle/knuckle assembly and set it on the side (I'll come back to this later).

With the CV axle out of the way, I then wedged myself underneath to find an extremely cramped path to the first bolt of two that hold the starter on... After about an hour of finding the right angle/tools to use, and spraying a crapload of penetrant, and using a blow torch to heat up the bolt, I removed the first bolt... The head of that bolt is facing the front of the car, The second bolt is facing the back of the car.

It IS necessary to remove the exhaust to reach the second bolt, and I discovered this after several attempts to find a path to the bolt... If you are attempting this install and think you can remove the 2nd bolt without removing the starter, well..... good luck. PAIN IN THE ASS! At about 6pm I finally said F**k it, and began to put everything back together.

I had to wait until the next morning to complete the job, because the CV axle had to be pressed out of the knuckle using a 20 ton press, I did however, replace the CV axle and wheel bearing while I had everything off, as to not feel like a complete failure. After that, everything popped back in and my car was back to normal...

Oh and by the way did I mention that the whole reason I attempted this job is that I listened to my starter go CLICK for over 200 attempts to get it to start one day... Guess what, after all that was said and done, I have started my car probably 20 times and not once has it failed to start... Ironic.

I guess the reason I wrote this long, sad story of frustration (which I doubt anyone will read), is to discourage anyone who is unsure about attempting this install. If you have extensive experience/lift/air tools/patience/a lot of time, I would reccomend giving it a swing, otherwise, pay the 600 bucks and have some mom and pop shop do it for ya! I certainly am!

Sorry for the long post - Louis

 

After a week of having my car.. the starter ..started to go.. had it replaced at the used stealer'ship i got the car from, paid about $6-700.. i still dont know if i feel good about that.. hah.
^ i hear what ya saying. but i wish i had enuff guts to try it myself first... thats alot of money..'for me'

 

6-700 including parts? If so thats pretty good, I spent 200 alone on the starter, and heard from others that the install would run upwards of 600. Anyway, yeah I tried but failed, at least I have a new CV shaft and wheel bearing!

 

Yeah, parts and labor. At the time $6-700 was alot to me, after the $$$$ on the car. If you think $700 is a good price, then good for you 'btw thats not sarcasm' hah yeah. Then it was like almost 3 weeks pay for me.
to you for trying it, if i had to now i would. hah, save myself some money and get to know my car alil better.

 

props for attempting such a difficult task man!!! i feel ur pain...but at least u have new CV shaft and wheel bearings

 

hey.

How did you remove and install the axle again?
Can you shed some detail? thanks,

 

ljmushock, can you do it again and take some picture this time (LOL)...

 

No problem, you know I wouldnt mind taking the wheel off and getting pics of the things you would need to remove and posting a complete DIY for the axle, it's actually not too bad... I'll post something either tomorrow or the first part of next week! I convinced my boss to gimme a three day weekend so I will be out of town

 

thats suxs removing the wheels and axle,i didnt do that way i just jack it up i only toke one part out and replace a new coil starter in there and the other was fine.toke very long to take off, wat a struggle

 

Wait... What? Can you explain that again... If I understand correctly you just replaced the coil while the starter was still on the car? If so, tell us how you did it

 

This confirms how hard it is to do the starter. Luckily, when this happened to me I had extended warranty. But, here's the kicker, they busted the tire when they did the job and replaced it without telling me....I found out after I took the car home and cleaned the darn wheels.....it had a different tire. The excuse was they busted it and replaced it, could not get the exact tire and decided to get the nearest one....Oh yeah? No way, I had them get an identical tire..they did and apologized for it......

Yup....Starter will blow $700 off your wallet.

And the bad thing is....there's a lot of things that can go wrong while they do it.....

But, kudos to your attempt to share the experience with us.....most of us will probably end up passing......I have seen a mechanic go through the CV changing, that alone is scary and hard. Lots of elbow grease required.

 

Ouch! I didn't have that much trouble with mine! It was 2 years ago that I did it, but I never removed the knuckle ot separated the ball joint, I just remember removing the lower control arm bolts and being able to slide the CV shaft out far enough from the diff to be able to remove the starter. I also didn't have to remove the exhaust either (It DID require a LONG extension, and 2 flex joints) to get the bolt, it WAS a pain but just took some patience! I agree that this is not for the roookie do-it-yourselfer, but with the right tools, it shouldn't be this bad. NOW the advantage I had was that I did it at my friend's shop on his hoist with his tools. But it only cost me $250 CDN for the re-build on the starter.

 

Maybe I didnt fail. Since I put everything back together, I have started the car probably 50 times, cold and hot weather, letting it sit for hours, etc... it has not clicked once. Im just waiting for it to screw up... Maybe the heat from the torch did something, or when I loosened and tightened the wires did something. Oh well if so, lucky me!

 

Is this just for the 3.2 or does the 2.5 have the same starter setup? In my dad's Toyota, his starter is right on top, just two screws and thats it. Why did this have to be so complicated!?!?

 

Yeah, that is just the 3.2's pain in the ass!

 

I've found that wobbly drive extensions work wonders to allow access to hidden bolts or nuts.

Also, you needn't replace the starter. If you have some soldering experience or know someone who does, you can replace the copper contacts inside the solenoid, which are the source of the infernal, repeated clicking. Contacts wear and one side wears slightly more than the other. Result is no electrical completion for the main current supply to the starter. You hear the solenoid throw (click), but nothing happens.

Here's a source for the contacts for the starter. Also a link to a how-to for this repair.

Sherco Auto Supply

Nippodenso Starter Solenoid Repair

BTW, the gold standard for shop manuals is the Acura shop manual. That was my first purchase after acquiring my 97 2.5TL.

regards