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

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

Reply to
roger
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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.

Reply to
Mike Y

The first good sign that it isn't a stuck starter is that it got progressively worse.

An old test for a stuck starter that should still be reliable is to turn on the headlights. Hit the "start", hear the click, and see if the lights dim a lot. If the lights don't dim much, then the solenoid is not putting current to the starter. So the solenoid or wiring is the problem. Don't hold the key over very long if the lights do dim a lot. Stuck starters can get hot pretty fast.

Pat

Reply to
Wayland

By the way, if you elect to repair the starter/solenoid on the vehicle...

MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE BATTERY GROUND FIRST!!

You'll be dealing with a hot +12v feed from the battery with metal tools, and the SLIGHTEST mistake could lead to disaster. As in melted tools (while you hand is on them), burnt wiring, exploded battery, and vehicle fire.

Reply to
Mike Y

thanks for your replies on this. I decided in the end to remove the starter + solenoid together instead of trying to fix or clean up the solenoid in place. (And yes, I disconnected the battery before I started, I have a lot of respect for high current supplies.)

Turns out the solenoid contacts were wet with oil (probably because my young son missed the filler hole when I let him add a quart of oil a few weeks ago) and this had burned on and insulated the contacts.

The contacts themselves were worn away to about half their depth, so no immediate need to replace them. I removed and cleaned up the plunger and contacts with detergent and hot water, gave them a quick rub over with sandpaper, and put it all together again.

A quick test with jump leads showed it was working again, so job done.

Regarding repairing in place, it would indeed be possible to clean up the contacts and plunger without removing the starter from the engine, but it would be impossible to remove the upper (non-battery-side) contact. However, according to

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the battery-side contact ever wears out, so this could be afeasible approach. On a balance though I'm glad I removed thewhole thing because it made the disassembly and cleaningmuch more straightforward. Total time - about 40 mins to remove (this would have been much faster if I could have found a 15mm ratchet spanner), an hour to clean up, and half an hour to put back.

Footnote: evidently you can't turn over a 3.3 engine with a 9" long spanner.

Reply to
roger

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