Hey guys I replaced my rpm sensor yesterday and went to start my truck and it just clicks. Is it the starter or the starter solenoid? Also has anyone repair one for a 7.3 idi? I have taken apart a starter and cleaned it and made it work but that was for a little Toyota corolla

 

Before I got too excited, if the starter was working good prior to this one time, I would clean up all connections, and grounds, and make sure the batteries are up to snuff.

 

Yes the batteries are good there brand new I bought them 4 months ago and I haven't really drivin the truck much because its my winter vehicle.I started it last Wednesday 11/23/11 and it started just fine and I let it run about ten minutes.I have had a couple incidents of it clicking before but it started after a couple tries and this time I tried for like five minutes and it just kept clicking

 

It might be your selonoid, but i would for sure check and clean all connections first, I have even had the starter to block mounting surfaces keep them from starting, as it has to ground good there. Larger diesels have a ground cable hooked directly to the starter to help with this.

 

Jump the two big terminals on the fender mounted starter relay with a wrench or similar. If the starter then runs the relay may be bad. If starter does not run then check that all battery wire terminals are clean and tight and that the main battery ground wire is tight where it bolts to the engine.

 

and make sure the trans in in neutral before you jump the solenoid.

 

Ok thanks guys I will try that tonight when I get off work. I was think about jumping the solenoid because I remembered that I did that accidentally once and made the starter go off. I will let you guys know tomorrow if it works or not

 

Yeah.....that's a nasty surprise when that happens.......................Not so bad if you have a long driveway and you get time to jump in and stop it.

I had a friend once who left his taxi (Carbodies Fx4 Diesel) in gear on a hill and it rolled and started and went through a neighborhood brick wall and into the front of their house

 

I can remember a guy that worked at my grandads gas station working on car a 49 or 50 model, at least something in that timeline, anyway he was under it and jumped the starter. It started and ran over his legs, then through a cinder block fence, acrosss the street and used the sheriffs car sitting at the court house to stop it. It broad sided the sherriffs car, doing quite a bit of damage. He had no DL but they could not ticket him, because he wasn't driving and this was way before the days of mandatory insurance, so the sherriffs dept was just out the damage. They were sure trying to catch him driving after that though and he wound up with several no dl tickets. lol

 

I had issues with my starter this summer. Sometimes it would click a few times, just like a dead battery or bad connection would. After a few tries and some worry, it would start up. Then one hot day after a good drive and an errand, it did the same thing. When it finally started turning that day, it wasn't fast enough to start the engine. After a tow home and swapping in the starter from my spare engine I couldn't believe how much faster it spun over.

So if its still an issue after checking the connections, get a new starter.

 

x2. The first time my starter died it was kind enough to do so in my own driveway. All the wiring was good so I connected a ground jumper cable from the block to the outer end of the starter, and it went, so I pulled it and cleaned between the two halves of the case as well as between the block and the starter.

Worked great for about 8 months, but then it failed inside the garage at Krown, and I had to crawl around on my back in anti-rust goo to fix it... not worth it. New starter.

 

Ya its my starter, I turned on my key and put it in neutral and jumped the solenoid and it still just clicks.idk if it was the wires or that end of the starter but I could see it sparking of the hot and ground wire every once in a while when I jumped it

 

The wire from the fender relay runs down to the starter solenoid. Check that it is properly connected to the solenoid. Check that the main battery wire is properly connected at the starter. If that is all good then use a wrench or similar to jump the two big terminals on the back of the starter solenoid (key off trans in neutral). If the starter then runs it may be that the starter solenoid is bad and you could just replace it. If starter does not run and you just get sparks then starter may be bad.
There is probably a short length od heavy gauge braided wire on the solenoid terminal opposite to the one with the main battery wire, check that the braided wire is not burnt/broken/corroded.

 

If you are getting sparks, you have a bad connection, or the post has gotten loose in the solenoid. If it has been loose and arcing, it is likely that the post has burnt so that it can't be tightened up.

 

Ya the little black cap that the terminals come out of on the starter is loose and able to swivel a little so that's probably the problem