I have an 84 f350 with a 6.9 and I have been trying to get this thing to start for 2 weeks. When I turn the key all I hear is a clicking noise that sounds like it is coming from the solenoid. The bad thing is that when I hook the starter up to the wires but let it dangle instead of bolting it down, it spins just fine. But as soon as I bolt it up all I get is that stupid clicking. I have had the starter tested at Autozone and they say it is fine. I have tried to shim it out but no luck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting desperate here!!

 

Check the batteries to make sure they are charged. They might not have enough power to crank the engine but still have enough to spin the starter with out a load.

 

Ya they are good. I even hooked up my battery charger and put it on "start" and still nothing.

 

It could also be that the engine might be hydrolocked.

 

No I can turn the engine over by hand. Its hard to do, but I have been told that this is just because it has a high compression. I did get it to crank once, but since then I have had no luck.

 

sounds like the solenoid is bad. its not making a good contact internaly, its just clicking. hope this helps.

 

I think u might not be getting enough power, maybe a weak ground connection to the passenger side battery, possibly a bad power wire going to your starter or a bad connection on the power wire(s) on the battery end or the starter end....

 

My bet is on the positive battery cable clamp on the passenger side battery.

Use a test light with the ground clip on the positive terminal clamp and poke the tip through the insulation of the wire going down to the starter about 6" from the battery terminal.

Have someone else try to start the engine.

If the test light lights, the cable is trash.

 

If the starter turns fine with jumper cables, you have a bad connection somewhere. My truck has a starter solenoid on the wheel well of the passenger side, try bypassing it there if you have one. Also, I have seen connections on the batteries that look fine, but they aren't- check all of your connections.

 

Check out the suggestions others have made. If there is still a problem, do not discount the starter. Just because it bench tests ok at Autozone, does not mean the starter is good.

I have had many starters over the years that bench tested ok but as soon as you put a load on them, they would only click. Bendix would push the gear to the ring gear and stop right there. Swap starters and all was fine.

 

Hope i don't confuse you but You can check to see if you are loosing power under load due to a bad connection if you connect a coupple wires to the constant power and ground posts of the starter (or just ground to the mounting bolts) and hook them to your volt meter. Have someone turn the key to start and see if you loose your 12 volts. If you lose your 12 volts at the starter you have a bad connection, If you don't then the starter or its solonoid mounted to it is bad.
Now You can check that solonoid on the starter by moving the positive test wire you put on the constant hot of the starter to the other side of the solonoide and try again. If you don't get 12 volts here but you had 12 volts on the constant side, then the solonoid is bad. If you do get 12 volts here then the actual starter has a dead spot in it.

Just make sure the truck is in netural. Its not as bad as it sounds but I have done it quite a few times. Also My leads are long enough that I dont have to be under the truck. They reach all the way to the cab. I don't like being under a truck that someone else is starting or Im trying to check underneath. I don't know about these starters but my chevy starter had a bad solonoid on the starter and it is easly replaceable so you don't have to change the whole starter. You can buy a replacement sol at autozone or o-rielies. Much cheaper than a starter.

All this in saying that your starter relay on the right fender well has tested good. You can test it the same way.

 

MY '94 did EXACTLY the same thing last Friday night. My problem, but maybe not yours, was that the brush holder in the end of the starter is held in by two screws they are the ground, the screws had a bad ground and "arced" and melted the brush holder out around the screws. The other problem was the brushes were also bad, the motor would spin when testing it but when trying to turn over 21.5:1 or so compression it didn't have the *****.
My Dad rebuilds starters, alternators and electrical systems on logging equipment cars, trucks etc. so I had him fix it for $20.00. If you can find an HONEST electrical guy you'll probably pay twice that or so, as he's trying to make a living.
The "clicking" in mine was the solenoid doing its job of kicking out the drive, the starter just couldn't turn over the engine.
Like the other guys have said: weak batteries or bad connections can do the same thing as you're not getting the starter enough power to do its job.
I would think if the solenoid was bad it wouldn't do anything or just spin the starter without kicking the drive out.

By the way the drive is the "Bendix" that is a brand name like "kleenex" it's a common term and not "wrong" ---I only say that so no one gets confused. The "Bendix" is the starter drive (gear).

 

First hook a volt meter from B+ to the solinoid and B+ out to the starter tru to crank it and see how much voltage it is droping It should be .5v or less if thats good go from the positive terminal on the driver side battery to the big positive terminal on the starter and crank it it should read 1v or less ideally if its more hook it to the positive terminals and crank it if thats good its the cable from the passanger side battery to the starter to confirm go from the positive on the passanger side battery to the big positive on the starter. If the wires to the starter tested good go from the big positive on the starter to the block near the starter and crank it should be near source voltage if it is exactly source voltage the starter is bad. If its a couple volts under source voltage go from the engine block to the negitve batery terminal on the passanger side battery if it is more than .5v the ground for the engine is coroded.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I haven't had a chance to work on it because we have had some bad flooding here in central IN, but as soon as we get stuff cleaned up I will try it all out.

 

Sorry to hear about the flooding.
That is a major pain in the butt! Hopefully not too much of a pain in the wallet.