awwww man........

[coolen]

wife went to leave for work today, got in the van and no go. as in no power to the starter no go. well, could be power to the starter, but either way it ain't turnin' over. i tried beating on the starter..no good. when she gets home i'll have to get her to turn the key as i'm banging. i didn't think it was common for a starter to just go ka-put like that. any other suggestions? i'll also have to put the test light down on the solenoid to verify power to the starter i guess. any other suggestions??

thanks

[kings-x59]

I've had a slightly loose and slightly corroded connection at the battery do this to me a few times, twice on the old cav we had and once on one of my jeeps. check your battery terminals.

[Rebel]

You might want to check you ground strap to the block. Don't remember where it was bolted to block on the 4.3 but on my 350, it's on the right side head. Searched high and low for my problem,,crank some of the time, some of the time, dead. After checking everything twice I pulled on the ground cable and the eye had broken around the block bolt,,still looked good, couldn't see the break if you were looking straight at it.

[coolen]

hmmmmmmmm, never thought of that. i guess it would be a good idea to see if my ground strap is on the head. dog house pull mission.

[Rebel]

After my V-8 swap I used the same ground strap that was on the 4.3,,are you sure you'll have to remove the doghouse,,,wasn't it on the front or was that changed later ?

[coolen]

it could very well be in the front. i'll definitly check the front of the engine first. i hope it's as simple as that. i'm googling the location of the strap right now ,,,,,,

[Rebel]

Good luck and hope that's it.

[astrozam]

check the connection ( pos ) behind the batt, make sure the nut is tight ( under the red cap )

[coolen]

well, i'm gonna put my snow suit on and do the dealin' with my van tonight. crappy weather...cold...wet, i can't wait. i'll let ya's know what i find

[thevalleyboy]

You can always use a heavy guage jumper cable to check the ground - just temporarily attach it to something good and solid bolted to the motor, and the batt... just trouble shooting idea

[coolen]

geeeeeeeeeeez, i never thought of that-DUH

to make a long and cold story short, i took the starter off last evening, in the snow and darkness. i broke the smaller stud right off the starter trying to wrestle it off. so- either way i need a starter. i just hope that was my problem.

[coolen]

well my problem turned out to be a bad solenoid. easy enought to fix.

BUT......she broke the driver's side handle. which i just replaced in the spring. now i have to dish out another $50 to napa to buy another one. i'm gonna have to get another van just for her. she's too hard on my baby.