'96 Concorde Starter Fails, Occasionally

My '93 Intrepid did the same thing. I replaced the starter.

It was kind of tricky to get the replacement starter in there. There's a 'splash shield', just make sure it's correctly in place before you try to tighten down the bolts. Not really that hard, just easy to get it all set to finish and THEN realize the plate isn't in there correctly. On a lift or high risers, it might be easy. The car on a small ramp doesn't give quite enough room under there to see it easily.

In further testing, I find that if if I turn the key very slowly, I do here a click. Assuming that is the click of the starter relay, I think I can eliminate the ignition key.

Assuming your battery is good and clean cables, I would bet the click noise you are hearing is coming from the drivers side, and this is due to the contacts in the starter being burnt. Replace the starter.

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Thanks for your response. I took it to a mechanic and that was his preliminary analysis. He will put it on the lift tomorrow to make sure that's what it is or not.

Or the contacts and the plunger in the solenoid if you can find the parts. Bill Putney recently provided a great web site that had these for about $12 as I recall. Search for his post to get details. I've also posted a site for just the contacts as well numerous times.

This is a known failure mode and the likely cause of your no start, but do take Glenn's advice and check for good clean battery connections and a good battery first.

Bob

Did 3.3L engines use the Nippondenso starter like the V8s do? The Mitusbishi starter on the 3.5L engines doesn't seem to have the same contact failure. Unfortunately, the motor iteslf fails in them :-/

'95 Concorde, mostly city driving, lots of starting. A few years ago I had the starter fail in that fashion; replaced it. Then a few months later the ignition switch failed.

I think you're asking about the 1st gen. LH 3.5 starter, Steve. But the

2nd gen 3.2/3.5L starter *is* in fact a Nippondenso that has the contact wearout problem. 2nd gen 2.7L does not have the Nippondenso.

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

Too late the OP already stated he took it to a mechanic who will likely just replace the whole starter instead of just the contacts. There are many websites selling the plunger and contacts here is one:

it was the first result when I did a google search for: denso starter contacts.

Probably.

Like Bob said, get everything you need here in one kit for half the price:

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