I have a '93 Grand Caravan 3.3 with 245k on it. It does a good job for the most part. When I got it about 2 years ago, the alternator was making a horrible noise. My mechanic said it would probably need to be replaced soon but for the time being, he put a new "bearing" in it to replace the one that'd gone bad. (That's apparently what was making the noise.)

About 3 weeks ago, the alternator finally died and a friend of mine stuck one in that he picked up at a junkyard. From that point until yesterday, I had no problems whatsoever.

Yesterday, I went out to start it and got nothing. The system came on strong, all the lights and gauges fired up no worries but the relay didn't even click... I got nothing...

I didn't think jumping it would do any good but I gave it a shot anyway. Well, this time it actually cranked a bit and tried to turn over and then it went to clicks. I tried again and I got a little less cranking and clicks. Third time I got no cranking, just clicks.

I thought maybe I had put a bad alternator in it.

I called Ron Ananian, the car doctor this morning, got on his radio show and told him what the deal was and he figures it's the starter. He said have the battery load-tested to rule it out and then replace the starter.

I figure I can do this myself... but unfortunately I don't even know exactly where the starter is. I'm relatively familiar with cars. I can change my plugs, filters... I put in a new radiator. How hard can a starter be?

So for starters (pun intended) here's my engine compartment.


I know that what I'm looking for looks like this:

But for the life of me, I can't find it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Look at the transmission dipstick, go straight down and a little to the left. It's below the exhaust manifold, it's installed flipped 180 degrees from your picture.

 

underneath.. towards the front.. upside down from your pic... but have the battery load tested first.. it sounds like a battery to me

 

Strange...

I had the battery tested at two different places and was told it was good but a friend insisted (thankfully) that I try his battery so we popped it out of his van and stuck it in mine.

Started right up.

Thank for the help anyway.