Gentlemen,
I have a 94 two door, two wheel drive automatic Tracker with a 1.6 liter 8 valve engine with 137,000 miles. I've done regular maintenance and never had any problems until tonight. It won't turn over. I put the trickle charger on it for a few hours and I have 13.8 volts at the battery. When I turn the key the dash lights come on and I hear a faint whoring sound from under the hood and the click of the shifter unlocking when I press on the brake. Hummm. I had a friend tap on the solenoid with a pipe while I turned the key and it finally started normally but when I shut it off and tried to restart, no dice. I've never had any starting problems before. If it's the solenoid can they be taken apart, cleaned, greased and put back in service or are they unserviceable? Could the starter also be bad or is this just a bad or corroded connection somewhere? What is involved in removing the starter or can the solenoid be removed without removing the starter? How hard of a job is this? If I need parts will junk yard parts suffice or should only new parts be used? What parts inside a solenoid (or starter) tend to wear out?
Am I totally off base and could the cause of my problem be completely unrelated to either the starter or the solenoid (like maybe some weird high tech computer problem)? My computer code flashes a 12. Help anyone?
