Got everything back on the truck and was going to try to start it to see where I stand. Unfortunately, never got anything from the starter when turning the key. Run position seems to work fine but when I'd go to start I wasn't getting any voltage to the signal wire that connects to the starter solenoid.

Where does this wire originate from and does it connect to anything else between the ignition and starter solenoid? I tried following it from the starter solenoid but it goes into a big wrap of wires and into the firewall behind the dash.

 

Solenoid seems to be junk. Tried manually supplying voltage to signal connection and solenoid welded itself on. It did that before, when the signal wire was working correctly. It seems all of the solenoids out there are junk. It also seems that the old starters, like I have, use a lot more current and aren't as powerful as the new ones.

Would it be better to just install a new starter which has a solenoid built onto it? It doesn't fix the signal not getting voltage issue but it may help the engine start when I do get it sorted. What do y'all think?

 

With a multimeter I found the following.

Ignition off:
- voltage from signal wire to ground = 0
- resistance from signal wire to ground = 0
- voltage from signal wire to positive ~= 12
- resistance from signal wire to positive ~= 700

Ignition on run:
- voltage from signal wire to ground ~= 0.3
- resistance from signal wire to ground = infinite
- voltage from signal wire to positive ~= 11.7
- resistance from signal wire to positive ~= 700

Ignition on start:
- voltage from signal wire to ground ~= 0.5
- resistance from signal wire to ground = infinite
- voltage from signal wire to positive ~= 11.4
- resistance from signal wire to positive ~= 730


All that I can really tell from these results is that the signal wire isn't grounded unless the ignition is off. If it were shorted out somewhere, it would be grounded all the time.

I believe, and please correct me if I'm wrong, I should see the following when the ignition is on start:
- voltage from signal wire to ground ~= 11.7
- resistance from signal wire to ground = infinite
- voltage from signal wire to positive ~= 0
- resistance from signal wire to positive ~= 0

 

Root cause found.

When I'd re-attached the shifter to the transmission, the transmission was taken out of park either during disconnection or reconnection of shifter and wasn't in park when it said it was.

Linkage fixed and starter acting as normal. Now to diagnose why she won't start XD

 

Good catch! Is there any clicking when you try to start the truck?

It seems most solenoids today are crap. I've had good luck with ones from NAPA (I think Echlin?). Any other of the cheapos I've gotten from box stores have lasted me an average of 3 days lol.

 

Yah, starting system is working normally now. It's turning over a little slow (not sure if normal for old starters) so I've got the charger on for the night. I also ordered a spark tester and remote start switch so I can try to figure out why she's not making fire. Was whizbanging just fine before I went in to "fix" some stuff. Same ol' story...

 

Yea I know that story lol. If it isn't broken, "fix" it til it is!

 

Replace battery cable from battery to solenoid with heavier gauge cable.

 

I don't know what "normal" draw is for a starter on one of these, but I checked mine (rebuilt from NAPA) the other day and it was about 750amps at engagement and dropped after about 1/2sec to about 250-300 cranking the 7.5L engine.

 

When I installed a pmgr starter back in 2012 it came with a test sheet showing a bit over 500A under load.
Of course it has a solenoid attached, and this showed 40A to pull and 13A to hold, so this is the only load my fender mounted relay sees anymore.