So on my '92 E-350 the starter decided to give up the ghost in an O'Reilly parking lot. Was getting lug nuts for my sons jeep. To top it off there was a wasp nest in the door pillar and when I opened the door one got my dog right above her eye. I think shes still a bit mad at me on that one. I went ahead and called the tow guy because years ago when I got this van I thought the starter was bad and tried taking it off. Saints be praised it ended up just being the starter solenoid on the firewall but in my endeavors I found out that the bottom starter bolt was not in the mind of moving. So for 2 hours yesterday I beat and banged and cussed that thing. I finally cut the head off with my dremel tool and had to put a jack under the starter to push up to break it loose. This worked after liberally applied penetrating oil and lots of heat (mapp gas torch). I did forget to remove the top bolt (genius at work) so I cracked the top ear of the starter so no core return there. But once the starter was off I was able to get visegrips on the bottom bolt and turn it out of the transmission. Woohoo. It reminded me of the time my water pump bolts were corroded into the water pump. The kicker is no one has much of a selection of a decent starter so I got the O-Reilly cheapy (only one they had) but this van isn't driven much so I hope it'll be alright for now. On a side note I think this was the original starter. Also I think it died because I rarely drive this van so I usually have to boost it and sometimes that drags the starter and I know that's hard on them.

Bad news is I bought a battery thinking that was my issue. More bad news is I used my 2yr old napa battery as the core thinking it was bad (this van eats batteries because it sits so much). I hate when I'm under pressure and make stupid mistakes. Live and ya learn (I hope).

 

You may want to install a battery cut-off switch if your van sits a lot. I had the same issue with my E-350-based RV as it only gets driven about once a month. There are parasitic loads that will slowly drain a battery.

Steve