96 Town & Country ignition problem. Help?

96 Town & Country ignition problem.

Hello group,

I am Scott in SF,California with a 96 Town & Country igition problem.

150,000 K miles,

And for the year I've owned the car, I've sometimes had to turn the key multiple times to get an ignition,
that is, to get the starter to turn the engine over.

Also sometimes , lets say on the third turn of the key te starter will kick in, but only turn the engine a fraction of a cycle, maybe no ignition.
Then several more turns with no starter kicking in at all, then maybe on the 6th or 10th turn of the key, the starter will kick in, and turn the engine normally for a second, which is, as normal, enough for the engine to spark and run on its own.

Last night it got worse.

Today I cannot start it, though I have had 3 kicks of the starter, though none of those 3 kicks were enough to get the engine turning.

I do not belive this to be a battery problem. Rather an intermitten ignition circuit problem.

Today I swapped the starter relay with another. That did not help.

I tried starting in Park, in Neutral, even moved the car a bit.

I am looking for ideas!

One mechanic had no idea.

Should I just run an additional Cable, running Positive 12V from Battery to Starter, via a switch on my dash?

Or does someone have ideas on how to diagnose / repair?

Any help would be appreciated.

scott
menlo park, ca 94025
[email protected]
http://www.planttrees.org
415 269 7738 cell = 415 ANY PRETtyboy

I hear the relay each time

i just unplugged and replugged the connection for the relay

still no go

just hear the relay

one out of a hundred times today I hear the starter kick

but not enough to turn the engine enough of a cycle to get an ignition

so even when the solenoid succeeds enough to turn the engine a little, the starter still quits.

I appreciate the posting on 98 a few listings down,

And I'll looks like I'll be removing the starter to get at the solenoid,

after I apply positive directly to the solenoid while attempting start,
just to troubleshoot.

Why don't you just replace the starter?

tomorrow I will try to apply positive 12V to the starter solenoid while starting

and likely will be replacing starter

I hear the relay each time

i just unplugged and replugged the connection for the relay

still no go

just hear the relay

one out of a hundred times today I hear the starter kick

but not enough to turn the engine enough of a cycle to get an ignition

so even when the solenoid succeeds enough to turn the engine a little, the starter still quits.

I appreciate the posting on 98 a few listings down,

And I'll looks like I'll be removing the starter to get at the solenoid,

after I apply positive directly to the solenoid while attempting start,
just to troubleshoot.

REPLACED STARTER.

RUNS GREAT.

Before replacing starter removed, cleaned, replaced all connections, battery too, by way of troubleshooting.

But the connections did not seem to be the problem.

Now I have a rebuilt starter.

Thanks for the help.

Be sure to change your ATF and filter!