89 Caravan 3.0 L Starter Problem

89 Grand Caravan, 3.0 Liter, 4 sp auto. Premium quality battery 6 months
old, voltage is good. Starter is still in the vehicle, but I believe it is
the Nippondenso starter. Most of the label on it is worn away, but peering
under the van I can see it does say "Made in Japan".

I'm having the click but no start problem. Yesterday I replaced the relay
on the fender, and today it clicked again. From reading the archives of
this newsgroup, I know that it is almost certainly the contacts in the
starter.

Unfortunately I don't have time to try to find the contacts locally.

So my question is, if I buy the solenoid only, will new contacts be part
of the solenoid? Or is is a case of one of the contacts is on the
solenoid, and the other is part of the starter?

 

Tony,

Try this web site:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml#Online Ordering

Since you have the older Mitsubishi 3.0L (long starter?), it appears you
will probably need either 2 type "A" contacts or possibly one "A" and one
"C". The pictures at the above site are very good and should be a good
guide on what you need. I think the guy offers overnight shipment if you
pay the fee. He also offers a pack of all 4 contacts for $19.50 and you can
return the unused ones to him for a $4 each credit in case you are not sure
which ones you need.

As to the contacts coming in the replacement solenoid, I would assume this
would have to be true given the design, but have never purchased just the
solenoid for this starter so can't say for certain.

Bob
..

 

Thanks for the info. The links and pictures are very helpful.