I'm wearing out my starter. It takes 3 short cranking sessions to start the 4.3 liter in my 2000 Astrovan, maybe 5 or 6 on cold mornings. For most of its life it started on the first crank. Now it takes at least two short cranks when hot and 3 or 4 when cold. I could crank until the battery was dead and it wouldn't start on the first crank, most likely the second too. Three short cranks of 3 or 4 seconds will have it running every time. Until I figured out this secret I was cranking the hell out of it on the first two and maybe flooding it to the point of not starting at all for a couple of hours. Flooding is only a guess althought it smelled of gas. Coming from the old school it's hard not to pump it a time or two if it doesn't go right away. For a while I was getting some missing from time to time. I changed the plugs, 125000 miles, and that cured the missing although not immediatly. Before the plug change I got a trouble code from time to time. I forget the number but the error was, "random misses" or something to that affect. The code wasn't definative.
Now please don't respond with some bullshit about how I'm stupid and
4.3s never start on the first crank and I'm expecting too much. If that's the best you've got to contribute I don't want to hear it.Anybody experiencing a similar problem? Better yet, has anybody had that problem and found a solution?
Thanks,
Jim