[lendaddy]

My wifes Envoy won't start. It was cranking slower than usual for the last couple of days and now...nothing. It's in the lot of a local grocery store for the night.

Anyway, I ran over there to do a quick look see, try a jump, check the relay and fuses, that kind of stuff. The battery was up but it acted like a bad relay (full power to everything but no sound from the starter). So I tried jumping the terminals on the starter, it sparked a very little but gave nothing. hmmm..

Well then I was going to try a good wrap to the solenoid while the wife cranked it (in the event it was stuck). Still nothing, but then I bumped the main line from the solenoid to the side case of the starter something arced. I had the wife hold the key on start and I manipulated this line and it turned over a bit but slowely and the line smoldered. It appears that the connection on the starter is bad or the line from solenoid to starter is some type of fusable link? The connection on the solenoid end is easy to see and is secure, the connection on the starter end is hidden under a rubber seal so I cannot tell if the line is broken(if it's a fusable link) or if there is a mechanical connection under there that may be loose.

So I am led to two possible conclusions.

1-There is just a loose connection under the rubber "boot" on the starter body and the starter is fine.

2-The line is a fusable link and blew as the starter was drawing too much current(bad starter) and my moving just resulted in a fractional connection, a connection not able to handle the current required to turn the motor so it just further smoked the line.

To me it really felt like the braided line from the solenoid to the starter body was blown under the sheath, but who knows.

So do starters have