Stalling/starter problem, no way related, right?

Normally, I wouldn't suspect that these two problems would be related
except that they first popped up concurrently.

On Friday, my wife was moving in very slow traffic (thankfully) when
her 1994 Plymouth Grand Voyager (3.3) died. It wouldn't start and she
had it towed back to the house where I was unexpectedly waiting to pay
the tow guy. When I tried to start it, it fired right up. My guess at
the time was the van got too hot and shut itself down because a) it
was leaking antifreeze pretty steadily (the tubing running to the rear
of the vehicle just rusted through) and b) I had a problem with the
thermostat sticking awhile back and still haven't replaced it. I
convinced myself this was the problem even though my wife insisted she
didn't hear the "check gauges" ding or notice a high temp reading. I
fixed the tubing and thermostat on Saturday.

Then yesterday came the familiar click of the solenoid at the starter
when I went to start the van. My wife said that's what it did on
Friday after it died and she tried to start it. It started after a few
attempts, so it's not completely bad.

Obviously, I'm replacing the started ASAP, but I need some suggestions
on the stalling issue, specifically if there is anything that would
cause a stall that could be related to the starter going out.

Thanks,
James

 

Did the starter get doused with coolant? I'd look more at the solenoid
contacts for the click but no start/crank. Not uncommon for them to
deteriorate from arcing when the vehicle is started.

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