L84sky

In the V6 Tracker, the Chevy service manual wants you to remove the exhaust crossover pipe,
the front drive shaft and drop the starter motor out the bottom of the car. That's a lot of disassembly.


I can attest it's possible to wiggle the starter out through the top without all that disassembly.


The flywheel is clearly visible once the starter is removed.


I pulled the starter because I suspected the solenoid was no longer extending the pinion gear
into the flywheel. The starter motor was spinning but the engine was not cranking.


I had it tested at a reputable starter shop in town. They verified the solenoid was bad.


They replaced the solenoid and installed a new set of brushes.


This is a diagram of the starter circuit.


I cut the old solenoid open to see how it was actually built.


These are the parts I found inside. Now a word of warning. A bad solenoid is not the only thing that can cause the starter
motor to spin without cranking the engine. A weak battery will exhibit the same symptoms. So connect a booster battery
before you remove the starter.

billah1959

on my tracker there is some kinda big brace across mine im not real sure what it goes to yet,still too dark to see it clearly
when i gets light out i will look again
other than that it looks the same
have any ideas about this?
if i can i will post a picture of it
bmbjr

L84sky

Take that off first. Three bolts on each side.



Also, if you can remove these three bolts you can remove the heat shield. That wil give you a little extra room to get the starter out.

billah1959

its not that brace
to me it looks like a motor mount,theres one on the other side that looks just like it
now that its light enough i snap a picture of it
bmbjr

L84sky

Slide the starter to the front of the car (under the motor mount). Then tilt the nose of the starter down next to the catalytic converter. The lift the starter up and out.

billah1959

mine looks like that
hopefully i can get it out,thankx for your info so far
i am not sure yet if this starter is whats wrong with yet,i kinda suspect it is though
bmbjr

L84sky

What are your symptoms?

billah1959

this happened yesterday,just started out of the clear blue sky
1 thing though about a week ago i had something called power come on the dashboard,it cranked up & has been running as usual,no problems
yesterday i got in it to come back home all it would do is sit there made the lights go really dim,wouldnt do anything,i called AAA to jump me off & it did so no problem
got home with it & put my battery charger to it,its got a thing to tell if the battery is bad,it showed being still good
charged right back up in about 20 minutes
so this morning i tried to start it again & did the same thing lights got really dim,yeah the radio came on a little,no click no buzz no nothing thats all i can get out of it
this belonged to my mom she is no longer able to drive,my late father if anything need to be done took care of it,or took it to the shop ,its all orginal except for the grill
i replaced it this summer
my dad took good care of this tracker,ive been driving it for 2 years now,this is the 1st thing ive run into thats got me puzzled here
any ideas?

moms tracker

L84sky

1. Is that a 2001? It looks Identical to mine. Down to the antenna in the A-piller, running boards and wheels -- identical.
2. The POWER indicator will go out if you toggle the switch left of the gear slector to NORMAL.
3. You don't have a starter issue. You have a parasitic current draw. It's draining your battery overnight. Do you have any electrical troubleshooting skills?

billah1959

i keep on forgetting about that switch, i turned it off,it went off on the dash as well
my late father said that it was a 2002,the little i have done to it i have asked for 2002 parts,they have worked,so i am assuming its 2002
around this area where i live i have seen a few of them still around ,even a 2 door theres 1 im not sure of the year of that one,but it looks older all of them except for 1 have the same problem,paint is trying to fade & the clear coat is comming off
ive been thinking about this i had a 1996 thunderbird that had a problem like this,doing almost the same thing as my tracker is doing i had the battery tested come to find out the battery was bad
i have a new battery ive not used but maybe 30 minutes if that im going to try that battery in the tracker & see if that works
as far as hunting down electric problems i guess im fair to good on that ,i belive i have my late fathers ohm meter
it still might be some kinda drain on it even with a new battery,with the bird i dinnt have any more problems with the battery after that
bmbjr