If you hooked +12V directly to the starter via the starter post on the solenoid, and it didn't turn over, and the battery is good and the starter is good, I would be 99% positive that it is your +12V wire to the starter. Replace this, clean all of the connections, and you should be ready to go!

 

With the trans in park
With the battery cables hooked up properly:
Another quick test is to attach a short length of wire to the positive cable/post of a confirmed GOOD battery, with the other end of the wire touch the S terminal on the starter solenoid.
This should make the starter crank.

Did you know that battery cables can corrode right in the wire itself, under the insulation from each end ?

 

Sounds like every one is havig the same problem as I am!!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!

 

Type the word *starting* in the search function for this forum & see how many hits you get

 

ok, I replaced the positive battery cable, and the ignition switch. In messing with everything I discovered that the new solenoid I bought is bad (never gets power over to the starter side), so I put the old one in. When I try to start it it clicks once, and if you hold it down for a second then it clicks more rapidly, but it still won't crank the engine.

I took a voltmeter and tested stuff and here is what I found. The solenoid is sending 12 volts down to the starter, and depending on where I ground it the starter is getting anywhere from 10.5 to 12 volts. During this it clicks like crazy from the starter but it doesn't sound like its actually spinning at all. The starter is less than a month old, but I pulled it out a couple of days ago and had it tested and at Napa the thing spun right up. So where am I? I've replaced all the cables, and the starter is getting juice. Could it still be a bad solenoid? As I understand it, it wouldn't be sending power to the starter if it was bad.

I did try starting it in different gears, and it would only click when it Park or Nuetral, so I think I can rule out the nuetral saftey switch. What about the ignition module? Could that be causing the problem? I'm still wondering about the starter, or something related to it. I'm about out of ideas, and I could really use some help. Thanks.

 

Take a booster cable and attach it to the starter cable on the solenoid.
Lay a thick dry cloth over the top of the battery (so gases can't leak through).

Now take the other end of the cable & attach it directly to the positive post of the battery.
Let me know what happens.

Warning !
Watch for sparks !

 

sparks fly- still clicks.

 

Sparks ?

Major sparks (like what would happen with a direct short)
or
Minor sparks (due to just attaching cable)


The starter itself just clicks ....hmmmm. Is the engine seized ?

Is the battery full-charged ?

Have you tried turning the engine over by hand ?

Maybe the starter shorts out under load ?

 

IT LIVES!!

To answer your question, major sparks. I did check earlier today to make sure the engine wasn't siezed, and it was fine. That was a big relief. Once I did that I pulled the starter and left the cable connected and tried that, and it still clicked.

Then I pulled the starter completly, used jumper cables and connected it straight to the battery (made sure i had it wrapped in a towel and pinned down) and all it did was click. This starter is only a couple of weeks old, and I had it checked first thing and it was fine, so I took it, the old and new solenoid and the battery all down to Napa.

They tested the starter and low and behold it was acting up! Then the new solenoid I had (bought from a different place, shoulda known better) was bad. And it looks like the old one was too. So I got a new starter (thank God for lifetime warranty), new solenoid and went back and plugged everything in and it roared to life. I'm still not sure what and when the starter happened, because at first it tested fine. I watched the guy test it twice. But at any rate, it works now.

I big thanks to all you guys with your ideas and all the time you put into helping me, especially Texas Bird and Mil1ion.

TERRMAT- make sure that when they tested your starter they did a load test. I think that was the difference between the two tests I had done.
Just hang in there. There are only so many things it can be, and its just a matter of testing them until you isolate it, or them. Good luck!

 

Your welcome MHull and glad to hear it. As far as your starter relays on the fender going bad, it was no doubt due to the bad starter...current overload frying the relay contacts. Remember when your messing with a starter in the future that the ground path is through the starter housing and the mounting bolts. That's the path back to the ground cable on the battery.

One last comment...anytime you mess with an automotive battery remember that if conditions are right, it's nothing more than a small hydrogen gas bomb.

ANYTIME you work with a battery you should have on a FACESHIELD...not safety glasses. I've seen probably a dozen of these things blow up and they have the potential to kill you if pieces of the thing come gernading out of the case.

At bare minimum the case will peel open and sulphuric acid is going everywhere, including in your face since your probably within a foot or so of it.

Hug your truck and go buy yourself a faceshield. Fifteen dollars is worth your eyesight. Not tryin to gripe at ya, just tryin to educate.

Bird