I posted a few weeks ago about my blazer… and unfortunately it’s toast.
I wound up finding a heck of a deal…
A 2004 Suzuki xl7, 4 wheel drive with 174,000 miles for 700 bucks
Runs like a champ, no leaks, temperature runs great… wife and I have been diving it for a week now…
Today,,, I got the double barrel middle finger… the starter decided it was ready to retire. I’m pretty sure it’s the starter,,, it’s the telltale single click. I don’t blame the seller for it.. it’s just one of those things that went bad .. could have happened at any time.
I’m gonna have to buy some extensions that I don’t have,, and probably have to stand on my head a little bit to get it pulled.
I’ll get it checked to make sure it’s the starter before I drop the $$$$$$$ to buy a replacement. Which I will also check before I leave the store.
I don’t think anyone here has ever tackled a starter in one of these,,, but of there is a remote possibility that someone has… I could use a few pointers.

Pick up a second or even third language.

Helps from running out of special words.

Good luck.....those starters are not cheap....

Can those starter’s be re-built?

Have someone tap on starter with pipe or hammer while you try to start it. If it starts, the starters bad.

Good call on not blaming the old owner of a $700 rig. Lol

you ain’t kidding, my local oreilys wanted 144 bucks.
I found one on parts geek for 68 bucks.. without core and free shipping. I’m certainly going to test it though when I get it out to make sure

$72.79 on Rock Auto, part number 117783, for a brand new TYC brand starter if I looked it up right.

Never changed a starter on that ride, just setting here warming up from putting a starter on my pick up so I feel your pain.

We keep a Suzuki Samuri at our hunting club. It is small enough to reach any stand location in the woods. Really nice on cold or rainy days for baiting or retrieving deer. We put less than 30 miles per year on it.

YOU-TUBE it. Let them show you what needs to be done

Search YouTube

Took the words.

yup youtube watch some videos , I was just looking at one video it doesn't look like the worst I have ever seen , a little tight

napa looks to have a rebuild for 135 https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/RAY2446802

definitely check all your battery connections I had the click a month ago , had replaced the battery 1/15 and had bad connections and 1/16 click. didn't matter jumper cables to another running truck I was reading solid voltage lights all on it just couldn't produce the current needed to turn it over click no move
it was questionable connections didn't exactly clean them and make it all pretty changing a battery at 17 below in the dark

ended up pulling the battery the 16th took it home waited till it light out really cleaning the connections up and using new side terminal bolts , then it started right up

it had started fine the 15th right after I had replaced the battery.

this was on a GMC 1500 and not a XL-7 , but I have had a few weird issues caused by bad battery connections and it is a cheap place to start looking.

I'd check the battery posts first , clean the posts and terminal ends then and cover with some gun grease and try starting it just in case .

I’ve bought some new terminals,,, I’m going to try them out tomorrow.
Then I’ll try to locate the starter relay… and fuse,I’ve been trying to find out exactly where they are located.. fuses and relays all around… hopefully the owners manual says where they can be located.

That's actually quite cheap. Yota starters are over $200

Relays are marked on top inside of cover of the box
You can jump the relay easily to test if you don't have another relay
Like said. First check connections. Then relay/fuse. Then try tapping on starter
I've changed one Suzuki starter in the past. Don't particularly remember it I have changed many starters.
Don't remember it being harder than normal.
Again if your not use to turning wrenches Google is your friend for everything you've asked.
Removal of starter, relay/fuse locations and how to jump relay etc.... It's also not particularly expensive starter
Good luck

Do a little research on the different manufacturers of aftermarket starters for that model. The ones that cost the least are sometimes the least reliable.

Youtube will have a video on replacing it, probably not that hard of a job

The Samurais had a "clicky starter" issue. There is a fix for it that involves a relay wired in to the system. May be something similar since it is a Suzuki product

Can you get it to turn with a screwdriver jumping from ground to positive on starter . Starter doesn’t sound expensive to me , my 4 wheeler was 345 for a OEM just couldn’t rebuild the original anymore

I figured it out.. it was actually a whole lot easier of a fix than I thought…
When I went to replace the terminals( just in case it might have been a loose connection) I found a tab that was broken … something that was easily overlooked because it was inside of a shroud…
I snipped it off.. and was able to wrap it around the new terminal…
BINGO!! It was odd to me because it didn’t make the click click click click noise you hear usually with a bad connection or dead battery.. just the single click when I turned the key.

not far off my bad connection issue , had voltage but not current making it to the starter
I have a voltage meter on my dash and I had 15.1volts while being jumped.

volts without current only shows a drop in voltage at the load not at the battery where the voltage is being read.