Today my wife called, the '96 Suburban wouldn't crank. Her car is
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away (long story). Neighbor took me down.
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. Tomorrow I'm getting a new starter.
Thanks to this bunch for that tidbit on a recent thread. I've changed
a lot of starters in my time, never tried just bashing one before.

Pete Keillor

Pete Keillor wrote:
...
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away ...
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. ...

Glad to hear you got it started, but you drove 8 hrs to whack it with a
hammer? Surely there was somebody there who could have done that! G

Bob

In article ,
Pete Keillor wrote:

Today my wife called, the '96 Suburban wouldn't crank. Her car is
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away (long story). Neighbor took me down.
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. Tomorrow I'm getting a new starter.
Thanks to this bunch for that tidbit on a recent thread. I've changed
a lot of starters in my time, never tried just bashing one before.

Pete Keillor

Keep in mind a similar tactic often works on failed 'in tank' electric
fuel pumps.

Just slap the bottom of the tank a time or two... you certainly have
nothing to lose.

If successful, don't put off doing the pump; it's now on borrowed time.

Erik

I spent six hours today. Drove to a store, in the next city over.
Ladder the building. Go diagnose. Come down. Talk with the store
people. Go out back and find the problem.

National Grid had not yet turned on the gas valve at the meter. No
natural gas. Like your 8 hours for a hammer whack. Lot of road time.

You're wise to replace that starter ASAP. I hope you got gas money,
and a good quality dinner for your troubles.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Bob Engelhardt" wrote in message
...
Pete Keillor wrote:
...
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away ...
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked
starter
with hammer. Started right up. ...

Glad to hear you got it started, but you drove 8 hrs to whack it with
a
hammer? Surely there was somebody there who could have done that!
G

Bob

I've never tried that. But heard from others who have. She's fortunate
to have a caring husband such as yourself.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Pete Keillor" wrote in message
...
Today my wife called, the '96 Suburban wouldn't crank. Her car is
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away (long story). Neighbor took me down.
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. Tomorrow I'm getting a new starter.
Thanks to this bunch for that tidbit on a recent thread. I've changed
a lot of starters in my time, never tried just bashing one before.

Pete Keillor

On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:16:02 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

Pete Keillor wrote:
...
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away ...
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. ...

Glad to hear you got it started, but you drove 8 hrs to whack it with a
hammer? Surely there was somebody there who could have done that! G

Bob
Naw, my wife's car is a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. We left it down there
when my back went out after a week of fishing. We brought back the
perishables, clothes, and ice chest full of fish in my car 'cause it
holds more. Mine only has 197,000 miles on it. This is the first
starter trouble, so I'm not complaining.

On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:38:15 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

I spent six hours today. Drove to a store, in the next city over.
Ladder the building. Go diagnose. Come down. Talk with the store
people. Go out back and find the problem.

National Grid had not yet turned on the gas valve at the meter. No
natural gas. Like your 8 hours for a hammer whack. Lot of road time.

You're wise to replace that starter ASAP. I hope you got gas money,
and a good quality dinner for your troubles.
Probly took it out in trade
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
I've never tried that. But heard from others who have. She's fortunate
to have a caring husband such as yourself.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.



Nah, probably just easier than the prospect of doing his own cooking &
washing.

"Gerald Miller" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:38:15 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

I spent six hours today. Drove to a store, in the next city over.
Ladder the building. Go diagnose. Come down. Talk with the store
people. Go out back and find the problem.

National Grid had not yet turned on the gas valve at the meter. No
natural gas. Like your 8 hours for a hammer whack. Lot of road time.

You're wise to replace that starter ASAP. I hope you got gas money,
and a good quality dinner for your troubles.
Probly took it out in trade
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

note that if you want to save $$, you can buy brushes and a solenoid alone
and just change them - the rest of the starter motor rarely fails -
depending on the cost of a rebuilt this may (or may not) make sense - for a
$50 rebuilt you don't save enough to be worth the risk that there is more
wrong, for a $350 rebuilt it's worth it.

....
Naw, my wife's car is a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. We left it down there
when my back went out after a week of fishing. We brought back the
perishables, clothes, and ice chest full of fish in my car 'cause it
holds more. Mine only has 197,000 miles on it. This is the first
starter trouble, so I'm not complaining.

Through your back out fishing? Must have been one hell of a fish. I
thought there was a law again throwing your back out having fun. Till
I learned that teenagers are cheaper than doctors I through mine out
all the time doing something stupid.

Now tell me about that fish.

Karl

On Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:58:30 -0500, Karl Townsend
wrote:

...
Naw, my wife's car is a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. We left it down there
when my back went out after a week of fishing. We brought back the
perishables, clothes, and ice chest full of fish in my car 'cause it
holds more. Mine only has 197,000 miles on it. This is the first
starter trouble, so I'm not complaining.

Through your back out fishing? Must have been one hell of a fish. I
thought there was a law again throwing your back out having fun. Till
I learned that teenagers are cheaper than doctors I through mine out
all the time doing something stupid.

Now tell me about that fish.

Karl

The fish didn't do it, although the kayaking didn't help. The fishing
wasn't that great, but Brenda would rather fish than breathe, so there
was always a line in the water, either from the dock, kayaks or boat.
She caught her first keeper red, 22", on a red and white tout from the
kayak, right after I caught a 20" speck and a rat red. Specks are
funny. When you land one into the flooded foot well of the kayak,
they immediately get very still and peaceful. Reds don't cooperate
like that. Otherwise we caught tons of good size sand trout and a few
specks at night from the dock, plus a few croakers and a nice
sheephead.

My back went out after the fishing, just bending over to get the hose
to wash the boat. I told Brenda we'd burned up all our karma points
with the week's incredible weather and all the fishing.

Pete Keillor

There are additional benefits for repairing the equipment you own.
A lifetime warranty on the starter may not seem so valuable if a
store-bought rebuilt leaves you stranded in a few days/weeks.

When it can be determined that brushes were the problem with the starter, a
clean/inspect/repair procedure is very cost effective.

One doesn't definitely need a shop full of equipment to perform dependable
repairs on various vehicle components.

--
WB
..........


"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...

note that if you want to save $$, you can buy brushes and a solenoid alone
and just change them - the rest of the starter motor rarely fails -
depending on the cost of a rebuilt this may (or may not) make sense - for
a $50 rebuilt you don't save enough to be worth the risk that there is
more wrong, for a $350 rebuilt it's worth it.

Pete Keillor wrote:
Today my wife called, the '96 Suburban wouldn't crank. Her car is
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away (long story). Neighbor took me down.
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. Tomorrow I'm getting a new starter.
Thanks to this bunch for that tidbit on a recent thread. I've changed
a lot of starters in my time, never tried just bashing one before.

Pete Keillor

Whacking is potentially not a good thing if you have a PMGR (permanant
magnet gear reduction) starter as you can break the magnets.

If you get sticker shock at the price of a new one, consider
overhauling the old one.

Roger Shoaf

In article ,
Pete Keillor wrote:

On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:16:02 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

Pete Keillor wrote:
...
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away ...
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. ...

Glad to hear you got it started, but you drove 8 hrs to whack it with a
hammer? Surely there was somebody there who could have done that! G

Bob
Naw, my wife's car is a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. We left it down there
when my back went out after a week of fishing. We brought back the
perishables, clothes, and ice chest full of fish in my car 'cause it
holds more. Mine only has 197,000 miles on it. This is the first
starter trouble, so I'm not complaining.

I finally had to scrap my old 87 Accord about a year ago... the body and
interior were really shot, and it needed carb and emission parts that
would have exceeded it's value. I bought it new, and almost it's entire
150,000 mile history was short trip stop and go driving.

However, it still had it's original factory starter, alternator,
distributor, distributor cap rotor and wires, master cylinder, front
calipers, rotors, drums, R wheel cylinders, PS pump, rack & pinion and
all four shock struts. Even it's original clutch cable lasted to within
months of the end...

Miss the old car... I now wish I'd fixed it.

Erik

On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:58:20 -0700, Erik wrote:

In article ,
Pete Keillor wrote:

On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:16:02 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

Pete Keillor wrote:
...
down at my brother's 4 hrs. away ...
Battery o.k., terminals clean. OK, crawled under and whacked starter
with hammer. Started right up. ...

Glad to hear you got it started, but you drove 8 hrs to whack it with a
hammer? Surely there was somebody there who could have done that! G

Bob
Naw, my wife's car is a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. We left it down there
when my back went out after a week of fishing. We brought back the
perishables, clothes, and ice chest full of fish in my car 'cause it
holds more. Mine only has 197,000 miles on it. This is the first
starter trouble, so I'm not complaining.

I finally had to scrap my old 87 Accord about a year ago... the body and
interior were really shot, and it needed carb and emission parts that
would have exceeded it's value. I bought it new, and almost it's entire
150,000 mile history was short trip stop and go driving.

However, it still had it's original factory starter, alternator,
distributor, distributor cap rotor and wires, master cylinder, front
calipers, rotors, drums, R wheel cylinders, PS pump, rack & pinion and
all four shock struts. Even it's original clutch cable lasted to within
months of the end...

Miss the old car... I now wish I'd fixed it.

Erik

Several folks have mentioned to me that they got rid of their
Suburbans and now miss them. The value to me (and the money I'm
willing to spend fixing it) is greater than what it'd bring on the
used market. It's closer to what it'd take to replace it. That would
require at least a good used pickup with a full sized bed and a camper
shell.

All of that doesn't really matter, anyway. I like the old thing. It
runs well and hauls a lot of stuff when I need it.

Pete Keillor