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94 astro van. 4.3l v6, been having issues lately with the starter clicking and then not bumping over. after a few tries and/or taps, it usually goes, figured it was the sylinoid going out, and i would run it till i could afford a new one.
New symptom, sometimes upon clicking, the starter gear would disengage but continue to spin…. not sure how that works, first time experiance for me, but after a bit it would decide to quit on its own, 2 minutes of free spin max… key in off position by the way.
new and final symptom. started fine, driving on interstate. random shutoff of van. lost all electrical power, no accererys, guages, radio, nothing. rolled to a stop on the side of the road, turned key off…turned back on, all electrical devices worked….minus the starter, no click. nothing.
Question. is it possible for a silinoid to “burnout” without activating it via ignition key…and could it cause a relay or something to shutdown the entire elecrical system?
should I just replace the starter. (2nd time i have had issues…not like this though, just the typical get out with a hammer to fix it problem) or should i dig deeper and inspect for a different type of problem, aka ignition switch or elsewhere? the previous owner had installed and removed a remote starter or secerity system or something. the wires for it are still under the dash, but organised and sealed off well..no bare wires showing that i can see at a glance without touching it too much. i don’t like digging in other peoples rat nests if i can help it.
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I would make sure that the connections on the starter are clean and tight as well as not touching each other. I believe there is a fusible link as well as the starter cable there that supplies the whole electrical system with power.
the large nut holding 2 wires, (one is orange with fusible link printed on it, the other is black) was not comfortably tight, yet not “loose” either. fusible links “blow-out” so unless it goes to a relay and thats the “fused” link that cant be it because the power came back on. van is jacked up, starter is out, and did a manual test on the starter with it out. (batter + jumper cables on proper post, + bridged the start post… minimal arc, double checked ground. nothing happens. tested connections and battery, all is well, had another starter with a weak cylinoid on it, works a majority of the time, and tested that as well to double check, that one worked….when it wanted to.. as i expected. i assume the problematic starter is totally dead, not making a connection within the cylinoid at all. BUT… my biggest concern is with the loss of electrical systems while driving down the road and not bumping the starter at all would point towards another culprit adding strain to the system causeing premature failer of the cylinoid. or if it is just coincedental that it will be the 3rd starter on the van in 4 years and I’m stressing over nothing more then a meer expected maintenance and poor luck with cheap replacement parts.
Yeah…Cars can sometimes drive you to drink. It’s possible that different years could have a different ways of running their electrical systems. I was going by memory and it’s not that great anymore.
I have found that the older cars get the worse remanufactured parts are. I put 3 starters on a 96 Cavelier in 6 months as all had solenoid problems. Finaly found a new starter. Problem solved.
Your’e close with your thinking. Let us know how you make out.
I think definitely a starter with new solenoid is needed. Buy a decent one not from an auto parts box store. It is certainly worth looking into the ignition switch, I find your symptoms more with FORD ignition switches than GM but given the age of the vehicle and the switch possibly being original it is not an expensive place to start. I recently had a 2004 Malibu in that had an intermitent crank but no start condition. Other shops replaced fuel pump, fuel injectors, pressure regulator etc. etc.. I threw an ignition switch at it and the problem has not returned.
I read your post. It’s really important that you check all of the components in the electrical system to get to the bottom of the issue. Run tests on the following:
Alternator, Starter, Battery, and all of the related wiring. Replace anything that is out of the ordinary as you go along. Fyi. If you can afford to use quality replacement parts you will be better off. The cheap ones are more expensive in the long because they don’t spin.
The fact that the Starter keeps spinning clearly indicates that it must be replaced.
P.S I had a 1998 Chevy Astro that just shut off on me like that one day and totally overheated. These are amazing little vans. Sad to let mine go.
you might be able to rebuilt “clean” the starter. you can always remove it and apply positive and negative to see if you get sparks.
the starter that was on it when i bought it had a weak cylinoid and i changed it and saved it for parts/backup, the replacement is the one that went out today, and it is totally dead, will not spark when you jump the terminals. alternator is new this spring as i assumed it may be the culprit for the random no starts, fixed the problem for a few months, now it came back with a vengeance. battery is not that old, but needs to be tested as due to the previous alternator failing mid-trip it was run dead a time or two. ignition and wiring is really the last thing in the system…. aside from that, i can’t think of why there was 2 leads to the positive post on the starter, other then an el-cheapo way of wiring up that old remote starter that is no longer existent. will probably be buying a new starter with lifetime limited warranty to be on the safe side. also found a broken sway bar link in the process 🙁 but that’s ok. 191k miles will do that to you. i have over 600 stuck into it since i bought it for general maintenance things so. not getting rid of it over a no start. and i have a spare motor/tranny/transfercase for it so…. she will go a long time yet! i will keep you posted! thanks for your time
I just remembered-some of the GM solenoids can be disassembled. If there are screws/bolts holding the black non-metal piece on to the metal body of the solenoid. If there are then remove the screws/bolts and separate the black piece from the body. There might be a wire attached on the inside so do this carefully. Once you have it apart you will see a metal disc on the black part that is held in place by the jam nuts for the electrical studs. You can remove the jam nuts, and then rotate that disc 180 degrees. You will see the wear on that disc as well as the solenoid plunger. Sometimes the wear on the solenoid plunger side is too great to save it, but flipping the disc on the plastic part resurrected many a “dead” solenoid for me. I hope I’ve explained it well enough.
the first 2 symptoms are classic starter systems. the last one sounds more like the ignition switch is intermittent. a faulty starter will draw more current and could potentially affect other components, maybe burn something else out. Ususally the relay would burn up, possibly the relay can be getting stuck closed as well, sometimes.
most likely you have several problems. 99% im sure the starter solenoid should be replaced, or the whole starter, depending on how it’s sold. I would also check the ignition switch on the steering column, and of course the starter relay.
changed the starter, swapped in an extra I had laying around the shop from a 350, neat tidbit for ya, not only do 4.3L and 5.? liter v8’s share alot of similaritys, but my 4.3l vortec block has all 3 holes so, technically some B.P.O. starters are useable as well! my buddy just dropped a 355 built into a 80’s camaro with a 5 speed and he ran into the starter vs small bell houseing problem…. i told him to try a mini-starter with adaptable blocking plate, he went with drill and tap on the block to getter done, its in, and hes happy, all that counts. I do still have an intermittant problem and need to still look into the switch/relay, but for the mean time, we picked up a 1999 ford contour with a minor cancer problem underneath for 300 bucks, not bad considering it only has 158k miles on it. cheap beater with a heater with a little TLC : ) hope it does not end up being a money pit!
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