92 Transport won't start..

[kslater]

I have a 92 Transport with 196,000 miles on the clock. The engine has always been taken care of and it's been the part of the vehicle that I was most confident with.

Twice recently it has stranded my wife (was local thank God) with a won't start condition. The first time was in the neighborhood and I just tow strapped it back to my driveway. I thought maybe it was the battery because it would try to crank, but just didn't seem to have the grunt to do it. After a charge it started up with a slight bit more hesitation than normal. Subsequent starts were like they always were - engine catches almost immediately unless it's bitter cold.

Vehicle is currently not starting. I pulled the battery and put it on my charger again, but it didn't take much to get the battery back to 100% charged (2 amp slow charge was what I used). When I tried it all we get is a very faint click. No engagement of the solenoid at all and no spinning of the engine. I turned the headlights on and had my wife try it again last evening. The headlights didn't even dim when she tried. I put a voltmeter on the terminals at the battery and when she turned the key to the start position the voltage only dropped from about 11.94v to about 11.80v (again with no starter engagement).

Anyone have any thoughts? I'm thinking the starter died, but it's purely a guess and I don't know how much longer this old friend is going to be roadworthy and I don't want to throw good money after bad.

One other datapoint - the electrical system as seen via the gauges has had a problem for a while (at least 60,000 miles) where the gauges will act up. I was just figuring this to be a ground problem in the system and have lived with it. Thanks for any and all help.

...Kevin

[LMP]

Originally Posted by kslater

I turned the headlights on and had my wife try it again.. The headlights didn't even dim when she tried..the voltage only dropped to about 11.80v

That is a good test and it says problem is with starter circuit...and that begins at the ignition key and includes transmission neutral switch.
Detailed test here:
www.avigex.ca/xport/starterdiagnosis.jpg
www.avigex.ca/xport/starterdiagram.jpg
I'd try first to see if voltage reaches solenoid - purple wire - while trying to start. If voltage is there and it does not even click, solenoid is shot; if solenoid clicks, then main contact in solenoid or starter itself. cases were solved by merely breaking corrosion on solenoid posts.