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I think I have a bad starter. I don't drive my truck much.
I had an injection pump solenoid go out a few years ago so when the engine was hot I had to crank it a lot. I'm sure this helped it's demise.
It's started fine all summer but in Sep. the first 55 degree morning I turned the key and received zero, turned it again and it drug, I jumped it and it didn't seem to help immediately, like jumper cables didn't have a good connection, then after a few minutes it spun hard and started.
I'd figure I'd have a problem the next day but it was in the afternoon, 85 degrees and it started no problem.
This morning the temperature was about 50 and it cranked slow but started in just about 5 seconds.
I took it to Oriely's and the Alt. was charging, the batteries were good and the load test looked ok.
Turning the key, I hear one click and then WTS light stays on for about 5 seconds.
I read the "How to tell if you have a bad starter sticky" and did some google searches but couldn't find a good answer. I've read about gear reduction starters.
Is there a particular brand or type of starter I should be looking for?
I just changed mine about 2 weeks ago. Turned the key and..click...click...click.
Asked my Wife to put her hand on the Starter relay to see if that was what was clicking.....yep.
Changed it the next day and all fixed...till the next morning.
Lower bolts are easy, it`s the top one that will make you pull your hair out.
Used a mirror on a stick that can bend, and a miners light that straps to your head.
Got it at Walmart, bought the 50 lumen one, the 100 would be better.
Some one replaced the bolts with 10mm 12 points. What a PITA to find the top one.
Swapped them to 6 point hex head 9/16.
I went with a Power Master as well and have been happy with it. Not only does it start the van well, it also got rid of the issue I was having with the starter grinding on the ring gear at times. It used to grind on occasion with 2 different starters. Put in the Power Master and it hasn't done it since.
going with a Nippon from Napa, pulled the old one out tonight, of course when I got home it started raining and before long we had sideways wind and small hail, spring time in TX! so even though I had a piece of plywood to lay on I still found a puddle to lay in!
The top bolt wasn't to bad since I had read enough about it, just dirty and tedious, glad I wore my safety glasses as it was oily and dirty,
tomorrow hopefully the new one goes in easily and then to fix a leaky return line (hopefully what is causing all the gunk below),
success! it took about an hour to remove it and about 30 minutes to put it back it (I stop and look at it a lot trying to get my courage up!) There were only a couple of cuss words and a few times more than necessary rolling out from under the truck but for a non-mechanic this was definitely a doable job. Thank you to everyone for the notes and special tips,
I ended up with a Mitsubishi from NAPA. The Nippon was shorter and didn't have the bell housing on the gear, I just wasn't sure about it, I knew it would be slightly smaller but wasn't sure about the housing and didn't want to take a chance on it not working this weekend.
when I tried the starter the engine was firing before I even really had the key all the way forward, it was less than a second and it was already running,
Definitely worth the time and money, next up the return lines and one of my battery cables coating is coming off and corroding so I have to order some of those custom cables,
I haven't had to remove my starter (yet) but I'm wondering if that hard-to-reach top bolt could be replaced by a stud? Seems like it'd be easier to have the starter in place and then just get the nut on...
if you google "idi starter replacement" there a quite of few write ups on it, one of them talked about putting a stud in but didn't give much detail so I didn't bother with it.
If it made it easier for next time it would be worth it if it turned into a problem. If I had to do it over again with out unusual issues it wasn't that big a deal.
This morning it was 38* so I figured I try it, previously at that temp I'd cycle the glow plugs 2-3 times and then it might fire on the first turn of the key after 5-10 seconds, sometimes I would take a break and have to try a second turn of the key,
1 cycle of the glow plugs and it fired as soon as I turned the key, AMAZING!
I have the nippondenso starter from napa on my crew cab, it spins that 6.9 super fast especially with the new batteries and cables i put on. Im pretty sure the 87 still has its original starter and the other 86 beater has a starter that i found on a core engine at the junk yard
I 'know a guy' that doesn't even put that top bolt in. he says two bolts will hold a starter. He seems to be right cuz he has driven for years and those starters haven't ran off yet.
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