Is my starter bad or is it the solenoid?

[rutang]

Hi, today my Jeep would not start. It was completely out of the blue except there are times when it cranked a little more than it should to start up. But anyways it was completely dead when I turned the key... once I realized it wasn't the battery I thought maybe the starter relay... but it wasn't that either.... so I tried the old take a hammer and tap the starter trick (I also tapped the starter solenoid) and sure enough she fired right up with no problems since. What do I need to replace to keep this from happening again? Thank you!

[BIG WILLIE]

Could be either but i know i have had my solenoid go out a few times. The solenoid is cheep like 15 bucks or so. there must be a way to test it but i don't know how. If i have to replace one i will replace everything including the bat cable. you could try and clean all the connections also. hop that helps will

[Dazer]

I've got that going on right now. Buddy of mine who works on jeeps said its most likely the starter but agreed with you guys to check the cables and everything. The connections look clean on mine but I'm prob going to be replacing it soon

[newtojeeps]

my solinoid went out on me Just replace both at the same time starter and solinoid.

[woodybeone]

Ditto. By the time it takes you to test both you can have both replaced and be done with it!

[AnnieL]

OK, the Jeep gods must be mad at sumpthin'-

Went out this AM-dead rig. Battery fully charged, but total silence when I turn the key.. :banghead::banghead::banghead:

Yay.

Should I use the one off of my parts rig, or buy a new one? About all I've got for the next few weeks is monopoly money. Vatozone has the soleniod switch for $31.99 and the starter for $69.99...

[aallison]

If you arelady have the parts, start a swappin. No reason to spen money if you don't need to.

[will e]

If you want to trouble shoot the problem next time it does this:

Take a volt meter, if you don't have one, buy a cheap one from any autoparts store, radio shack, etc. Set it to measure for voltage. Put the red lead on the positive of the battery and the black on the negative. You should see 11 to 12 volts. You now know your tester works and is set in the right position.


Put the red lead on the side of the solinoid where the wire goes to the actual starter. Put the black lead on the neg battery terminal. You should show zero volts. Have someone turn the key to start. You should see some volts (11 to 12). If you do, the problem is probably the starter (its getting power but not turning). If you don't it may be the solinoid.

If you did not see any volts then move the red lead from the tester to the small post that is close to the battery side of the solinoid. Have someone turn the key to start. Again, you should see 11 to 12 volts. If you don't then you have an ignition wiring problem and the solinoid is not being triggered to start the car. If you do see 11 to 12 volts, it is almost certainly the starter solinoid.

I wouldn't replace the starter until I had confirmed the solinoid is bad. It is more expensive, a pain to replace and, frankly, a 'new' starter can be a POS too.


Another option is to just buy a new solinoid and swap it in. Put the old one somewhere in the rig where you can find it. It will come in handy when your buddy's jeep won't start at camp and he needs to get one from someone....

[tgreese]

If you arelady have the parts, start a swappin. No reason to spen money if you don't need to.

Yeah, I'm down with that.

If it turns out to be the solenoid, get a Standard Ignition one from a real parts store, not Vatozone.

Could also be the ignition switch or the neutral safety switch. These sorts of problems are best addressed with a multimeter and the divide-and-conquer method.

[joe]

Swap what you can from a donor Annie. The OEM parts even used are way better than the rebuilt Mex/Taiwan crap the parts store sell regardless of life warranties. If the new /used starter has a buggered up gear thats cheap and easy to replace.
If you plan on keeping the rig for a long time have your orig starter gone through by an auto-elect shop. Well worth it for a good spare.