Starter motor OEM Toyota or OEM FORD

It turns out it was the starter motor. Managed to get a second hand one and changed it over, took the told one apart and noticed it had 4x brushes in it and one was completely worn down or potentially could have cracked at some point. Still confuses me to why it would start sometimes and not others. However, this must have been a problem for a while as my car sounds completely different when starting up, really clean!!!!

I suggest you go with a brand new OEM replacement.. an aftermarket one will genuinely fail much earlier.. the original lasted you this long.. but once cry once

It seems to work pretty well, AC/heat keep blowing with the engine off in well designed systems. Starter is often much better than conventional starters, bringing engine to higher RPM at start which reduces the normal issues with constant start-stop.

Toyota 2UZ is in the same spot, and the original starter in those can last well past 250k miles when they're not being roasted by the exhaust and drenched in water regularly.

Appears to be OEM as it has Toyota branding on it. I tried tapping it with a hammer while my daughter turned the key but it didn't ever turn the engine again.

Brittle starters

these were inexpensive starters

The plastic on those is more brittle than paper thin ice.

Very common with these starters

Unfortunately a cheap starter with cheap plastic