Yup, indeed, the contacts always start out being intermittent and give plenty of warning. I ignored them on my ma's '95 Caravan for so long, the final straw was when she lost count after 700 tries and a blister on her thumb! It did get her home eventually, but she wasn't very happy.
Every one of these Nippendenso starters uses the same "battery" terminal inside the solenoid, but there are three versions of the "starter" terminal. I don't know how to tell which one is needed until you pull it apart to look. Also, there are three versions of the plunger which has the contact washer. It usually doesn't have to be replaced, but if you do, there are two different lengths used in Chrysler products. There is 1/8" difference between them. A third, much longer one, is only used in Toyotas and has to come from the dealer. I would assume the contacts are available from them too. I get the contacts and plungers from a local rebuilder.
Very little current is needed to make the starter motor spin with no load, so it will work fine on a test bench until the contacts fail completely. That can take months.
Caradiodoc
Friday, June 19th, 2009 AT 10:01 PM
