[Focus man. Focus.]

Hopefully somebody here will have some pointers to assist me.

My sister has a 99 Chevy Venture Van with a 3.4L V6. She was driving yesterday and everything was fine. Got home went out an hour later and it wouldn't start at all. When the key is turned it just gives one click from the starter solinoid. To which I thought it was a bad starter. I tried to give it a boost and that didn't help. I bought a replacement starter and after installing it it still has the same issue. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what this might be? She has a handicpped son that needs the van to get around and she is also a single parent that dosen't get a lot of support. Any assistance that can be provided will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance. Kevin

[Feral]

one click usually means a bad Battery

my buddies Venture went through a battery every few years

[Focus man. Focus.]

But it wouldn't start even with the jumper cables attached to my car. Still think its a battery?

[ZTWsquared]

Focus man, Focus.,Sep 21 2009, 10:10 AM Wrote:But it wouldn't start even with the jumper cables attached to my car.  Still think its a battery?
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Bad battery compounded by bad battery connections?

[Focus man. Focus.]

Hmmm, I will check that out tonight. Thanks for the input.

[reldridge]

Bad starter solenoid?

[Focus man. Focus.]

The solinoid is on the starter. Replaced when I put in the starter.

[oldeguy]

Besides it being a GM.................could it be an alternator?

[Frost__2001]

um well I've boosted a few Ventures, and montanna's here at work, you have to really watch where your boosting it to, as most ventures don't Ground correctly and 95% of the time you have to play with it to get it to ground correctly, and it can take a good 5 minutes to charge enough to get the van to start if its completely dead.

Question though Kev, dose the van have power at all? or only when hooked up? also see if there is any map lights on as they can kill the battery.....

if it's not lacking any power I'd say bad battery cables, or battery is dying.

[darkpuppet]

if you checked the started and it's just doing the one click trick when you turn the key.. sounds like a bad battery -- and a bad booster cable connection.

I know that the safest way to boost a car is to hook the grounds to the chassis , but that can leave you with a bad connection due to crud and whatnot.

hopefully that's all it is.

[Focus man. Focus.]

When I go back to Ajax tomorrow I will check the Battery. The dash lights up like an Christmas tree when the key is in the on position. The thing is that she was driving it around all day then when she went out in the afternoon it wouldn't start. Luckily she was home and didn't get stranded on the side of the road.

[torradan]

I found that sometimes a bad battery can also prevent it from being jumped as well.

Did you ream the battery connections? Or are they the screw-on type?

Good luck getting to it, if its like my neighbor's venture, you have to disassemble half the car to get to the battery box.

[Scorcher000]

Kev, it may be worse than that. These van and engines are famous for over heating, head gaskets and Mnifold cracks. But GM the s*** boxes they are like to use fuze wires. Thin, very britle wires that are linked between the alternator and starter. Ussually were the main power from the bat connects to it. But that is mostly found on the 4.3L.
Check the fuzes just in case something just got too old and warn out. Good luck.

[Frost__2001]

Scorcher000,Sep 21 2009, 03:41 PM Wrote:Kev, it may be worse than that. These van and engines are famous for over heating, head gaskets and Mnifold cracks. But GM the s*** boxes they are like to use fuze wires. Thin, very britle wires that are linked between the alternator and starter. Ussually were the main power from the bat connects to it. But that is mostly found on the 4.3L.
Check the fuzes just in case something just got too old and warn out. Good luck.
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Actually that reminds me, Also Kev, Another problem now that I remembered the ventrues will click like their dead, or in need of a boost, but the engine could also be blown.

also to boost a venture you have to do it from the tiny pos needle around the passenger side of the van.

[Focus man. Focus.]

The engine isn't seized. I used a screwdriver to turn the engine over a couple flywheel notches as I thought the starter wasn't engaging properly. As for the battery. You can barely see the stupid thing in there. Its buried under all sorts of crap, and it is a side post type battery. I may just buy a new one and try that out.

[Focus man. Focus.]

So I went out to Pickering Village to mess around with the Venture again and I solved the mystery. I went to take out the battery to run it over to CTC and have a load test done. While taking off the positive cable the whole thing fell apart. Both positive cables, the one to the power distrobution box and the other that goes to the starter fell out of the terminal.

So off to crappy I go and have the battery load tested and that checks out fine. Great! Pick up a couple battery terminal repair ends and back to my sisters I go. I rig it all back together and BINGO, problem solved. I don't think I have seen a bigger smile on my sisters face. It felt really good seeing her happy. She has been through so much lately.

[darkpuppet]

good job!

[Scorcher000]

You da man.

[NefCanuck]

Congrats on getting the problem solved :)

NefCanuck