Some of your thoughts are hard to follow, but I have a suspicion you have a very common problem with an easy fix. If that clicking you're hearing is a rather loud single clunk each time you turn the ignition switch to "crank", it is due to burned / arced contacts inside the starter solenoid. Those can be replaced if you can find them. Look for a starter / generator rebuilder in your area. If you can't find one, ask at the repair department of any heavy truck repair shop. They'll tell you the company they use.
The contacts cost around three dollars each, or you may find a rebuild kit in a farm and home store or hardware store. Any of those kits will have what you need, but there are three versions to be aware of. First look at the photo below that shows four solenoid contacts. You only need two of them. That's why buying them individually is much less expensive, but you have to know which ones you need. The kits have listings to show which years and models they cover, but you can't go by that either unless you know for sure your starter is the vehicle's original one. All the different versions and years interchange, so once a rebuilt replacement is installed, you don't know what year your starter is from.
These Nippendenso starters were used on Toyotas and Chrysler products. Every one of them will use the contact listed as the "battery" terminal. At question is which one of the other three you need. You have to match the old one to one of these three "starter" contacts. It could be symmetrical, or centered, or offset to one side or the other.
Also with the repair kits, you'll get a new plunger assembly with the copper contact disc built in. I have never needed to replace that, but you should be aware that there are also three versions of that. Farm and home stores typically have two kits that cover all Chrysler models. The shaft that engages the starter's drive gear with the ring gear on the transmission is about 1/8" longer on one version. If you choose to replace that plunger, you have to use the right one. So far the only place I've found to get the plunger for starters used on Toyotas is from the dealer's parts department. Their shafts are longer than either of the Chrysler models, but as I mentioned, I've never needed to replace one yet. You can use the contacts from either Chrysler kit, and just don't use the new plunger.
The clue to this problem is it always starts out as an intermittent problem. The starter will make that loud single clunk, but not crank the engine, one time. On the next attempt, it will work fine. Next week it will act up three or four times. Every week it will get worse and worse as the contacts continue to burn away. I ignored this on my mother's Caravan for so long, the last time she lost count after 700 tries, but it did finally start. You can be sure I heard about it that night!
Forget about testing starters. These use a gear reduction, so they draw very little current to start with compared to other brands, but when tested off the engine with no load, it can draw much less than 30 - 40 amps. It's pretty easy for burned contacts to handle that, so the test is not valid. Testing needs to be done with the starter on the engine, and then, you need to measure current flow to make the diagnosis. Motor current always starts out very high, then drops a lot once the motor is spinning up to speed. If current is unusually high, as in over 200 amps, the bearings are likely worn, the armature is dragging, and it's spinning too slowly. Spinning too slowly is very different from not spinning at all. When the voltage to the starter stays high where it should be, and current is much too low, or close to 0 amps, it's those contacts that are suspect.
I don't have instructions that I can post for you on how to replace the contacts. If you're a competent do-it-yourselfer, I can describe the procedure. It just takes a few wrenches and perhaps a screwdriver. Of course you can also just replace the entire starter. This would be a good time to use a professionally rebuilt unit with a warranty. With one from a salvage yard, there's a chance you may get one that's about to develop the same problem.
Let me know if it sounds like I've described the right problem, and how you'd like to proceed.
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Sunday, October 6th, 2024 AT 7:03 PM
