Thanks to all of you who offered your help and your wisdom yesterday... I
finally ended up "testing" the starter by disconnecting the lead from the
ignition switch (as suggested by "notMike"); it was still spinning when the
battery was hooked up, so that pretty much narrowed the problem to the
starter. We towed the the van home last night, and it took me ten minutes or
so to have the starter out. It had no visible damage, including the pinion
gear, so I dropped it off at the rebuilder's this morning. I noticed it was
stamped "reman," so there's no telling what kind of shape it was in to begin
with. I had some trouble this past summer with the solenoid sticking, so
hopefully a decent rebuild will take care of the problem(s)! Thanks again-

JJ
Oklahoma City

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