5.7 What's the real deal ?? Remove starter from the intake or out the bottom ??

2011 236k 5.7 Crewmax
Just happened this morning so I'm not 100% it's the starter. I hope not. I had to leave for work.
I will say the battery is plenty charged at 12.8V the fuel pump primes up but there's dead silence where as if the battery is low it makes a clicking sound. Nada not one friggin noise. I have to research. Did a quick search on how to replace said starter and all 5.7 starters are getting accessed from the bottom passenger side ??
Any one hear replace their starter on a 5.7 any advice or tips to share ??

 

I haven't replaced it, but have upgraded the power wire on it. It's under the exhaust manifold on the passenger side behind a heat shield. I have tested the starter by bypassing the relay. To test the starter, take the relay out and use a jumper wire to connect sockets 3 and 5, both are copper colored on mine. Use a sufficiently sized wire, at least 10ga, and don't leave it connected...you can also test the relay with details below if you have a multimeter.

 

So jump 3&5. Does someone have to turn the key or is that the function of 3 & 5 together ?

 

In order to start the car someone would have to turn the key, jumping 3 & 5 would just send power to the starter so you could hear if it was engaging and turning the engine over.

 

Understood thank you.

 

Where did you get these diagrams ?

 

There is a factory repair manual PDF floating around here somewhere, I downloaded it a while back.

 

So we jumped 3 & 5 together and it sounds exactly the same without turning over. Also with the relay in place you can feel a small thump. Tomorrow I check the fuses just for kicks as it's looking like a starter swap.
Related question: I never noticed till today the relationship between the exhaust manifold and the starter.
Corect me if I'm wrong but from my pov it looks like both exhaust and starter are under the same heat shield. That said, would it do any good to wrap the starter with exhaust wrap or heat protection.
That V8 heat can't be good for the starters innards. ???

 

I just changed my starter on my 5.7. There's two heat shields. One is on the exhaust manifold and the other is on the starter. If you are handy you can remove the starter without removing the manifold. I did have to remove the solenoid though. My starter was good (160k miles). It was the solenoid that failed. For some reason it stopped working and then after getting the starter out and putting the solenoid back on it started to work again. At first it didn't work but you could see a spark with you touched a wire to the solenoid terminal and then it worked as it should. You can buy just the solenoid but when you go through the work of getting the starter out I think most people just opt to replace the starter.

I found a used OEM starter on ebay with only 30k on it from a 3 year old Tundra for half the price as new. Being a southern truck both the old starter from my Tundra and the replacement looked the same on the outside. Yet the pinion gear looked brand new on the replacement. Normally I buy new and OEM but I figured that the used starter would last a lifetime for me. In your case do you plan to get another 200,000 miles out of your Tundra? If so new may be the way to go.

I will say that if your Tundra is a northern truck you could be dealing with rusty bolts. That'll make the job much more difficult. The bolts holding the heat shields on, mainly onto the cast iron exhaust manifold, could be a real problem. I did have to bend the heat shields a fair bit to remove them.

 

It probably gets a fair amount of heat, but most are installed in the same area, so I'm sure they are engineered to tolerate it. Starter heat wrap might help extend the life of the starter, or maybe not...12 years is a good run.

 

It's a pain in the ass. Did mine in about 6 hours following this video:

https://youtu.be/H2xJwup319Q?si=Vu9d0-P16OlEcQUA

One thing not shown is the coolant hoses have some mounting brackets with bolts up on top of the engine. Remove those to get more slack in the coolant lines.

 

It's a TX truck west Hou metroplex.

 

Your not gonna believe it and I don't blame you. My coworker who happens to be a mechanic at my job took more time removing the heat shields than the starter....
(I was helping & watching) he literally
Removed two bolts pushed and twisted the starter forward then pulled back twisted again and it came out without any drama. Credit to Bayron cause he's way more patient than I am in these matters.
Take away here is I don't get how all the YT videos either loosen the motor mount or remove the exhaust header in order to remove the starter ??
Oh but it gets better.......
The new OEM starter Wich I got a great deal at the local Toyo dealer via his brother was an inch shorter in length than the one we removed. I regret not taking pictures of them together.
The little bit of research I've done on this very forum shows a
"cold weather package" that includes the bigger starter with a higher KW rating. My first guess yesterday was Toyota had done a revision on the starter length after tech feedback.

 

My tundra has the transmission cooler in front of the radiator. The cooling lines make it much harder to remove the starter. I think that's where the confusion comes from.