89 7.3 ATS TURBO, drove about 100 miles today, started fine all day, go to my friends house, come out about an hour later, no start, i have a click at the solenoid on the fender, and a click at the starter, no start, i think this rig may have suffed cavitation to one of the rear cylinders. No oil in the coolant, and no water in the oil. Everything looks good, all electrical contacts are fine everything checks out good, then i crank it and all it does is clicks, i just had the starter rebuilt about a month ago. The truck has been runing pretty good but it had a small missfire, i think it either suffered cavitation or it ate a valve. Please help me i need this truck it is my only transportation.



Mike Howard

 

make sure the key is off and try turning it over by hand,,,first op rotation then in reverse ... if it starts to move in reverse rotation, remove the glow plugs and then move op rotation and see if coolant comes out of any of the glow plug ports. If it works that way, it may be a bad starter rebuild or other electrical problem.

 

Looks to me like dead batteries!

 

If the engine is locked it would be a loud clunk , not just a click .Sounds like either dead batteries , bad connection somewhere or the starter is bad . You can rule out a bad connection by checking voltage at the starter . First make sure you have good batteries .

 

That's right. When I hear "catastrophic engine failure" I think big hole in the block with a rod hanging out, not a dead battery.

 

You can also use battery cables to test the starter,with a fresh battery of course, and see if the engine will turn over,+ on the positive of the starter and - on a good ground,just "touch" it and see if the starter cranks.
saigon

 

Ok i got the truck towed to my house at 1AM thismorning, So now im outside, i cleaned the terminals, checked connections again, and i tried it right at the starter with some cables, my buddy has an 04 5.3 chevy that i used, when i did this the starter spun ever so slowly, but it did make noise like it was spinning, so i think the starter is good, but it just didnt have enough juice from the cheby to make it spin faster. Now i have the classic loud *** click at the solenoid on the fender, and it sounds like it is making a noise at the starter when i try to start it from inside, but nothing it wont turn. I have it hooked up to a newer PSD to jump it directly to both batteries, when i turn the key my amp gauge goes right into the middle just about 15 i think, but it still doesnt do anything. I took all the glowplugs out except the last two on the passenger side, because of the turbo, and this didnt make a difference, the glowplugs all look great though. The coolant and the oil all look good, nothing smells burnt, the oil isnt grey or white there is no coolant in the oil, and no oil in the coolant, what do you guys think here?? I pray that this isnt bad?


Mike Howard, i would have tried to pull start it but it is an automatic, so that wont work. Thank You again.

 

turn on the headlights. have someone try to start it, and watch the headlights. if they go out, the batteries are fubar, or the starter is fubar. if you have all but 2 glo-plugs out and it will not turn over, it should be either batteries or starter.

but you also have to remember, it could still be cavitation, the cylinders that go 99% of the time are one of the two rears on the passenger side.

 

Well, a few years back it kinda happened to me,it was the starter that was shot, I changed both batteries and nothing but clicks,same as you and got the same results.Has nothing to do with glow plugs,pull it off and test your starter (without the motor load),if it just goes rr......rr......rr......rr.....very slowly I am 100% sure it's the starter, the carbon brushes are probably burnt or the wiring got hot,do you usually pull on it alot on the first start in the morning?

 

Did it turn the engine over,even slowly????
Saigon

 

Yeah it was a real slow like rrrr noise, like the way they sound when you have dead batteries, it did sound like it was cranking, it kinda leads me to believe that the starter solenoid might be bad. But i worked on starters this last summer and it is rare for the solenoid to just quit that quickly, but it is possible.


Mike

 

TJC,
Even with no glow plugs at all the engine will spin,but not start.ATS Driver is afraid that his engine has seized.
Saigon

 

Well,it's a relief that your engine isn't seized up if it does turn over a bit.Try with your lights on like TJC said and see if they dim,good idea, should pinpoint to the starter.

 

Ok as it sits right now, i have no click at all at the starter, it has no click at the actuator, but when i jumped it earlier today it spun. I replaced all of my grounds from the batteries to the frame, and cleaned all of the contacts on the starter actuator, solenoid and the battery terminals, i may go steal an actuator off of an old truck to see if i can get this thing going. Any help will be greatly apreciated.

 

I think you need a new starter . You can get a new gear reduction high torgue starter off ebay for under 150.00 . I have one on each of my trucks . It takes less juice to turn over and it spins the engine faster for easier starts . Other than new glowplugs it was the best thing I ever bought for my truck . DBelectrical sells them online and on ebay . There are other places , but I was happy with thier fast shipping and customer service.