Neon starter advice needed

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jos51700

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History on '96 Neon.
Factory starter lasted 300K+ miles. Died after extended cranking during a stalling issue.
Carquest remanufactured starter went in, was dead on arrival. Bench test revealed dead solenoid.
Junk yard starter went in. Lasts about a week. had one extended crank that might have finished it off. Starter and solenoid were dead.

Got a Mopar starter that was new but made in China. Bench tested it with jumper cables and jumped the solenoid wire and it seemed like a decent piece.
Installed it in the car and it cranked and started once, then stalled (pcm learn? ), sounded like a champ at that point.

Went to restart and..... nothing?

Bang the key to start position a few times and now the solenoid pops but it's not cranking.

I'm at a loss. I highly doubt that having four starters die like this is a just a curious statistical anomaly. Is there something I'm missing? Battery is hot, cables were replaced with Mopar units about eight months ago. I haven't done voltage drop tests or tried to jumper the current Mopar starter motor, but at this point I'm stopping because I feel like I gotta be having a senior moment or something.

Any ideas? Is it just a run of crap parts, or is my car killing these starters like some Stephen King villain?
 
Engine siezing up? Socket on crank bolt will tell you.pull plugs, should roll easy.
 
"What does it do" (or not do) when it/ they die? Pull in the solenoid, no crank? "Little click" from a relay? Anything? MAYBE it's not the starter(s) or at least not all of them

Only been under a Neon once, briefly. Exhaust/ EGR leak? Heating the starter?

Does it "sound weird" IE bad / damaged ring gear? Double TRIPLE check the mounting area that there is not some debri getting it out of alignment
 
Yep,^^^^^^^^^happens all the time...........................
 
All,
I will:
Check the starter cables for voltage drop and any physical ailments.
I finger banged the ring gear prior to installation looking for looseness, damaged teeth, and broken welds but did NOT check for debris between starter and mount. Will do.
I will surrogate the ground wire.

And I will check for a seized engine! With the mileage and the fact that it's had three oil changes in a decade, a spun bearing is not beyond possibility.

Thank you all!
 
A little digging reveals that battery voltage drops from 12.8 to 12.3 when hitting the solenoid, but holds steady at and doesn't drop below that, so I doubt that the battery is bad.

Virtually zero voltage drop from battery hot lead to solenoid, and resistance was 0.2 ohm.

Measuring between solenoid and starter motor to battery reveals only 0.7V going to starter which tells me either the motor is shorted or the solenoid isn't making connection internally.
From motor power lead to ground was 0.4 ohm. I was thinking it might zero/ol if the brushes were toast or if it was between sections on commutator, but it seems ok.

So am I wrong to think it's probably the solenoid?
 
Not clear to me what you were doing here:

"Measuring between solenoid and starter motor to battery"
 
I have a 96 ACR Neon. Would not turn over. Replaced the battery, bought rebuilt Bosch starter, checked original starter with 250K, checks good. Replaced the terminal on the separate wire on positive battery terminal to the starter, problem solved.
 
"New" chinese starters are total CRAP. Get a decent remanufactured one. The lifetime warranty starters from O'Reilly also get improved/upgraded parts where the weak points are. Often times the new ones do not. We don't have a lot of warranty on either, but we have more warranty on new ones than remans. Also AVOID the one year warranty ones. They are junk.

This is of course, if all else checks out ok.
 
There was a rebuilder in the city that sold out, chinese parts moved in. What a fiasco when winter kicked in, had so many parts returned there was no choice but to drop the supplier and and find another.
Bosch new stuff is about the easiest to obtain,so thats what i have been going with. Still offshore but of marginally acceptable quality.

Resistance checks tell me nothing. Voltage/voltage drops indicate where the power is/isnt.

Starter has 2 wires,large battery cable and a small solenoid wire.
Battery cable is connected to battery,so it should have power.
Solenoid wire is energized when key is turned while other parameters are met (neutral start, clutch,ecm or whatever)

So,with voltmeter connected to Large battery cable post on starter and starter housing for ground,use a jumper from Large cable to solenoid terminal. What happens and what is the voltage?

A common problem is the torque applied to starter connections and damaging solenoid.
 
Seems you thoroughly proved the starter isn't the problem. I have a 1996 Voyager 2.4L w/ essentially the same 4 cyl engine and still on the original starter at 230K miles. I also don't understand what voltage drops you measured. When you say "0.7V going to starter", it isn't clear you understand basic electricity since voltage doesn't go anywhere (current flows). Your job is to supply at least an 8 V difference from the case of the starter to its big stud. Until you do that, don't blame the starter. As mentioned, also insure you can turn the engine over by hand (breaker bar on crank bolt). Most common problem is that the battery terminals are corroded, which is why everyone sells battery brushes and they should be used every few years.
 
Just did the starter in my pt cruiser. Tiny little thing.old one was dragging,had a used one i went through and cleaned up and lubricated. Two bolts a ground under one stud and two wires. Its such a simple thing,cleaning cables, posts and terminals.
Power, ground and a trigger to make it crank.there is a possibility of a couple bad starters but unlikely.
Had a siezed alternator fool another tech once, i just happened to be standing there and saw belt skidding over alternator.
 
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