voyager '98 3.3l starter solenoid - repair in place?

External Since: Apr 18, 2008 Posts: 2

I've got a '98 grand voyager 3.3L which shows all the symptoms of
dirty or worn solenoid contacts. (Battery okay, loud 'click' when you
turn the ignition switch, but starter motor doesn't turn, used to turn
after several tries, but has got progressively worse and now doesn't
seem to want to turn at all).

My question is: is it sensible to try and clean/fix this up in place,
without removing the whole starter assembly from the car? I can see
the three small hex screws that hold on the solenoid lid, and they
look easy to undo - but are there any 'gotcha's I should be aware of?
If it can be done in place it looks a lot easier than trying to remove
the entire thing.

As a follow-up question, the other possibility, I suppose, is that the
starter gear has jammed in the flywheel - unlikely I think, but I
can't turn over the engine by hand (using a 9" spanner on the nut
holding on the main fanbelt wheel) -- should I expect to be able to do
this?

--
Roger

External Since: Jun 15, 2004 Posts: 129

<roger.RemoveThis@rops.org> wrote in message
news:a9db7baf-a801-4818-af44-4e8af7777633@a22g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> I've got a '98 grand voyager 3.3L which shows all the symptoms of
> dirty or worn solenoid contacts. (Battery okay, loud 'click' when you
> turn the ignition switch, but starter motor doesn't turn, used to turn
> after several tries, but has got progressively worse and now doesn't
> seem to want to turn at all).
>
> My question is: is it sensible to try and clean/fix this up in place,
> without removing the whole starter assembly from the car? I can see
> the three small hex screws that hold on the solenoid lid, and they
> look easy to undo - but are there any 'gotcha's I should be aware of?
> If it can be done in place it looks a lot easier than trying to remove
> the entire thing.
>
> As a follow-up question, the other possibility, I suppose, is that the
> starter gear has jammed in the flywheel - unlikely I think, but I
> can't turn over the engine by hand (using a 9" spanner on the nut
> holding on the main fanbelt wheel) -- should I expect to be able to do
> this?
>
> --
> Roger

Well, I don't know about your year/model, but my Caravan had a starter
with the solenoid on the starter, and easily accessible. I pulled it apart
(still on the car) and found there was a 'transfer bar' that was pitted.
There
was also two 'bolt heads' that the transfer bar contacted that were
pitted pretty bad, but only over the area the bar contacted. I loosened the
bolts and rotated them 180 degrees, and flipped the bar over so the 'clean'
side contacted the bolts.

The starter worked fine for years until the van was disposed of.

Hey, take a look and see.