starter or something else?

This sounds like the very common solenoid contacts. Do a search of the archives of this newsgroup or Google since this comes up every few months. The key words are "Nippondenso solenoid contacts". These are easily replaceable. Bill Putney just recently provided a hyperlink to an inexpensive source on the web for the contacts and the plunger too.

Make sure all your cable connections at the battery, the engine ground and the starter are all clean and tight. If you hear a click and no start, then it is probably the solenoid contacts. These usually last about 5-7 years and 50-80K miles.

Good luck.

Bob

Bob,

Thank you fo rthe quick reply!

Your comments and the first few sites I found the web do sound like my situation. Unfortunately the contact fix still requires removing the starter which makes me wonder if replacing the starter is the preferred fix since I can buy a starter off the shelf tomorrow but it might take a week or so to get the contacts (I'm assuming contacts are not available at the local auto parts store???)

Bob, could you contact me directly at my email? I'd like to ask you about searching newgroup archives.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

Additional follow up after some more web searching:

It migt be possible to remove the solenoid parts wtihout removing the starter. That would be a step in the right direction!

Contacts might be available locally, I do have a auto electric shop in the area and will check with them tomorrow. Will they have the plunger as well????? I'll also check to see if the dealer has these parts available.

I read of some accounts where repacement parts were fabricated from copper pipe and even pennies (or even rotating the original parts.) Fabricating sounds intriguing but I would anticipate the car being unusable for a longer period of time.

Does the original problem ever result in the car being completely disabled????

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

I'd stick with the starter you have now. Better the devil you know than the one you don't. The Nippon-Denso starters are very well engineered until some minimum wage rebuilder gets at 'em. Why spend $200 on a rebuilt unit of questionable quality when you can fix it for $13.00

The starter is very easy to remove and install, the repair is better done on the bench because there are some fiddly small parts (insulators and o-rings) that must be handled when replacing the contacts.

Not a dealer item. Depending on where you live, this supplier may be able to get the parts to you in a day or so;

Eventually, yes, but I've had customers nurse them along for more than a month with the symptoms.

Replacing the starter is proabably "easier," but then you'll be stuck with a piece-of-junk rebuilt starter that might not last a month. A factory-assembled starter will happily out-live 2 sets of solenoid contacts, so IMO replacing the contacts is a better long-term solution.

Eventually, yes the car will be disabled. But it will go a very long time if you're willing to keep trying until it finally cranks.

Here is a summary of my experience for others who may face this same problem.

The problem appears to be the contacts. The ones I removed are indeed worn and at least after doing the replacement the car has started successfully twice.

The job was alittle mroe difficult than I thought it would be. The starter is mounted with two bolts and the head on the top bolt was a blind operation which made it difficult. Access to the lower bolt was not that great either but at least I could see the head. Clearance around both bolts was minimal, no room for fingers and when I got a rachet or wrench on the head the swing was minimal so it took a long time getting the bolts out and back in. Removing the 12V low current control wire was also difficult becauser there was some locking mechanism on the connector and while it was fairly obvious how it needed to move it was not easy to do. I had thought about the possibility of replacing the contacts without dropping the starter but after looking at that it would have been very difficult to do. I purchased the contact and plunger by finding the part on the following web page:

The price on the web page was $12.99 but when I go to the store that had it (only one of five stores in my area had it in stock) it was $17, I guess I should have paid for it on the web and done a store pick up! I did find a auto electric repair shop that would sell me just the contacts for $7.50, but they wanted me to bring in the old contacts so they could match them and I didn't want the vehicle disabled during that exercise. I did find a rebuilt starter at Advanced Parts that claimed to be a Nippondenso original that was rebuilt in Mexico, but it cost $109.

The job took about two hours. Lots of lying on the garage floor and getting up and down because you needed to be under the car and then over the top of the radiator frequently, especially when puttin gthe starter back in palce and getting the top bolt started.

Thanks to everyone who provided some insight on this problem! I hope my comments will be useful to someone in the future.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

Good job John.

Next one will go much quicker (think of it as making $100+ an hour)

$17 is still a good deal, the rebuilders around here want $45 for the plunger and contacts.

As for the contacts for $7.50, I buy them in packs of ten for 29 and 39 cents apiece.

John - your description of the process was precisely my experience on the 2nd gen. LH 3.2/3.5 engine, right down to the difficulty of getting the connector off the solenoid. For that, after working blind for several minutes, I finally got my digital camera out and and was able to get it in where my head wouldn't fit and get some useful macro shots that showed me where the latch was located and where it needed to be pressed. It was either that or I used a dental mirror - I forget which.

The contact/plunger kit (exact same one you linked for your Voyager) was not available in local Advance stores - the partsamerica page even stated that - at least when I got mine a few months ago - perhaps that's changed, or perhaps that varies by region or chain (Advance, Kragen, Checker, etc.) - they do have you enter your zip code when drilling down in the parts searches.

Anyway - good write up. Anyone needing to do this job for the first time would do well to read John's writeup.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')