>With all the discussion of gently beating the starter with hammers, etc., I
>noticed a lot of folks spoke of crawling under the van, opening the deck lid,
>and other inconveniences to hit the starter.  The trick is to go at it from
>the side.  If you have a 2-foot pole (or a 62 cm pole), you just slide it
>into the wheel well, at about the 10 o'clock position to the rear right tire.
>  If it is your first time, do it in daylight or use a flashlight.  A couple
>of whacks and you are good to go.  It like shooting pool, and you hardly have
>to bend over -- no crawling or unloading involved!
>
>I did this for a few weeks, intermittently, until I disassembled,
>cleaned, and lubed the solenoid.  I may not be an expert on fixing these
>things, but I got all the good roadside tricks down pat. :)

Ya gotta be careful with this technique.

I'm sure there's lotsa folks who've driven millions of miles with no
ill effects.

But remember that a solenoid is a coil of wire inside a thin metal
skin. If you bash that thing too hard with something heavy (the
wooden pole is probably the best suggestion to avoid damage), you
could dent the shell so that it pierces the insulation of the wire
coil inside.

At the least, it could stop you travel plans until you replaced it.
At worst, it could cause a short that would take out one of the
fusible links in the starter circuit (this circuit isn't protected by
any of the fuses in the fuse box) next time you turn the key.

Dave
--
Dave Carpenter

Whatever you wish for me,
May you have twice as much.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke