The Diagnostic port grease is normal. The grease is one Toyota's ways to keep the corrosion down on the connector terminals.

Before you get too far, how do you know the starter is bad? What did you test(s) did you do to confirm this? I just want to make sure you are not just buying parts and hoping it works.

The best starter to get would be either an OEM Denso (which I am pretty sure is discontinued by now) or a remanufactured Denso starter that has actually been remanufactured by Denso itself.

Many other aftermarket starters tend to fail really quickly compared to the OEM starter. I have seen several threads here where an aftermarket starter only lasted from bad right out of the box to a few years.

However, the most common cause of starter failure (at least for our starters) is the starter solenoid contacts that wear over time.

If you do not need your 4Runner right away, you could pull the starter and have a look at the contacts: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ct-fix-193101/

 

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, a dear friend and Co-worker killed himself and I've been doing a lot with the department and family so it has kept me really tied up. I hope soon I'll be able to get in the garage and be able to upload more content.