91 Voyager - starts, but sometimes just barely

[mdhbhouse]

Sometimes my van doesn't start immediatley.
You turn the key on and although the dash lights come on and the radio etc. there's just a click. If I shut off the radio and heater then it usually starts, however not always. Today I actually put the tranny in D and then back to P and it seemed to help.

I cleaned my battery posts a while back and the problem was still intermittent. So I recently replaced the battery (about 2 weeks ago) and all was fine until today or yesterday (when the weather turned cool and rainy).

I'm thinking alternator possibly, but after a couple of weeks with my alternator not working shouldn't my battery be dead?

Anything ideas on what I should consider checking?

Thanks.

[yogi_123rd]

I believe your starter is going bad if you have elliminated a weak battery as the cause.

The clicking noise is a classic sympom of a bad starter. Starters go bad in progressively worse stages. First it fails occationally, and later most of the time. The "click" noise you hear is a solonoid engaging the starter drive gear with the flywheel. This also causes electrical contacts in the starter relay to line up and send battery voltage to the starter motor.
In bad starters, over time, the drive gear can get damaged from repeatably contacting the flywheel gears so it does not make fully contact with the flywheel (and the relay contacts don't line up).
Also, over time, starters fail when the relay contacts become burnt and pitted. As the relay, solonoid and drive gear are all part of the starter you replace the starter as a unit.

[mdhbhouse]

Do you know if this is a difficult task or is that too general a question?

I used to love working on a mazda 626 I had since it was so easy to get at the engine and the starter was like 2 bolts and it was off.

I just put a battery charger on it as well (seemed to indicate it needed a charge).

[mdhbhouse]

Originally Posted by mdhbhouse

Do you know if this is a difficult task or is that too general a question?

I used to love working on a mazda 626 I had since it was so easy to get at the engine and the starter was like 2 bolts and it was off.

I just put a battery charger on it as well (seemed to indicate it needed a charge).

No need to answer the first question.
I did a search after for 'replace starter' and it seemd to indicate it's not a tough job so I think that's my next step.

Thanks.

[RIP]

Took me an hour to change the starter on a 3.8 ltr. but, I'm slow.

[mdhbhouse]

I must be slower because it took me longer than that.
In the end I managed to do the swap but it was still challenging.
The bottom bolt was not too much of a problem but the top bolt I couldn't even see so I had to do it by feel. Plus the only way I could get access to it was by removing the fan assembly in front of the radiator.
So just let me say similar to my struggles replacing the blower motor I had to do recently, I find this van to be less than desirable to work on.

However, done for now so lets hope the decision to go used instead of new or rebuilt doesn't come back to bite me in the middle of winter (if not sooner).

M