My rover finally left me stranded... after a year of intermittent starting issues.

So for the last year about 1 in 10 times she hesitates to start. Either nothing will happen, or it'll sort of turn over once and stop. If I try again it starts no problem. Heck, half the time when it turns over slowly I've just kept the key in the start position and after a second it'll crank just fine.

Last night it was just dead. After trying for 15 minutes I gave up and got a ride home. Then this morning I went back to call a tow truck and on a hunch tried to start it - started on the first try!

Does that sound like a bad starter or a bad ground? I'd love to not have to go through the trouble of pulling a junkyard starter and swapping 'em.

 

Easy to check. Ground is black cable from battery down along radiator to a bolt. You can also bridge between negative battery and the frame of the truck with a regular jumper cable. Can also do same thing with positive side which goes to big bolt on starter. Of course all big wire terminals need to be clean and tight.

While under there tap the starter with a hammer, if it starts working the solenoid usually defective.