I would be suspicious of the primary battery (passenger side). This was the one that failed on mine.
As for starters, I have used the hi-torque starter from DB Electrical. They have them for sale at $79 bucks and they are new, not remans. and shipping is around $18. I know some of the guys have had bad experiences with them, but the first one I got did a nice job.
If your truck has a starter solenoid, I would maybe check it. The contact plate can become very pitted and not be able to transfer the amps properly to the starter. Maybe try jumping the starter solenoid and see if that makes a difference. Same thing could be true with the unit on the starter.

 

well the new starter fixed mine .Got one from orielly's auto parts new not a reman $199 plus tax lifetime warranty $ 5 core .Little pricey but it works better than the old one ever did .Spins amazingly fast .Since the old one was still turning the truck over I kept it since the core was only $5

 

When I test starters at work, I test them 3 or 4 times to get it heated up. Just to see of the solinoid will fail. If the starter solinoid is bad it could keep an open current and drain them. Does your truck have the orginal battery connectors on it or are they aftermarket ends on it? On mine the aftermarket ones are not small enough to really hold the cable, so it will give me a slow start sometimes. I just got out and wiggle the wires and she turns over just fine. Good times!

 

I just had the starter rechecked at Advanced Auto since it wouldn't even roll over any more. The first time he hit the test button it spun over really good but then the second,third,and fourth times it wouldn't budge. I got a good deal at napa on a new one $166 with life time warranty. Will post up results this weekend.

 

Wellllll lookee here. I have got the same problem. Man this site is great. So when I go to start the truck after the wife says there have been a few ocassions where the truck flat wouldn't start and she said she could hear a click and...nothing. She said she would wait a minute or two (on really hot days 110 or so) and then it would start but turn over slow.

Low and behold the truck did the same thing to me after driving it around. Went to try and start after driving a while in 109 or so degrees and it would just click. Like the starter was froze. Then I would try again and it would struggle to start. Then sometimes it would start but a tad slow.

Last summer we started to have this issue and I purchased the DB High Tourque starter. Slapped it in and man did it turn the truck over fast. Then fast forward to Spring it started doing the same slow start at crank. Sent the wife to get new batteries (2 optimas). Well, the truck continued to act up. Took the batteries to Autozone and they said they both tested fine. Called DB and they sent me another HT starter. Put that one in and it started perfectly. Fast forward to this month and we are back to square one.

Took bateries back to autozone. Tested good but noticed that one of the optimas was 800 CCA and the other was 720 CCA. I guess that I didn't notice. So I asked the dude if that made a difference and he said no and they were powerful enough to run the truck. Is this the case? Had the alternator tested too. Good so far. Could the mismatch CCA batteries be and issue or do I start looking at fuses, relays, wires, etc?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

considering the experience you have already had, I would suspect another bad starter.

 

It happends, after the starter replacement fixed mine, 30 days later or so, it went bad again, it was so hot I smelled electrical burning smell, and the starter was so hot, the tech burned his had terribly. That is one thing to do, if it's turning over real slow or not at all, carefully feel the starter, if it's HOT, then it's bad. These trucks are very hard on starters. It's worth it to pay for a better one, or reman where they actually replace ALL parts, not just the bad parts.

 

OK. Sounds like I have gotten 2 Bad starters from DB Electrical? I will go ahead and replace. Replace with a stocker or...maybe the truck just doesnt like the HT starters?....What about my battery situation. Should I replace them both to match as well ( 800CCA and 1 720CCA)? Go with optimas again or is there an alternative that could be recommended that is of similar quality?

Thanks again all!

 

It has been a week now on the new napa starter and all is good here. I wouldn't think the difference in CCA would create a problem!

 

Our trucks require batteries with 1000cca per battery. The design of the Optimas cant generate that kind of power. If the batteries are not large enough, then the voltage to the starter will always be low! It's like installing two old wetcell batteries and expecting them them to work.
Nick

 

2001 F-250 PSD same problem - replaced batteries several times, new starter from DB which spun like a jet engine when I got it last year now slow low power cranking again - starter draw tested 339 ams which was ok, I was thinking about buying new cables even though the old ones look ok.

Beast, did you get a third starter??? Did it fix your issue??

Also I believe the solenoid is on the starter, what is the solenoid on the pass fender well for??

 

339 amps, that seems kinda high to me.

 

Yeah, I thought so too, but the Midtronics tester at Advance Auto said OK....

I just took a pair of heavy jumper cables and attached them directly to the positive post of the starter an dthe engine block, then directly to my truck battery to check the cables and no difference. Then I connected the cables from my starter to my wifes car battery (now that would be three batteries paralell and it was only a hair better. Looks like my starter is dying. Only a year old too. I can't think of anything else. I was going to change the cables but that seems rulled out.

 

Don't think I'll be buying a db starter in the near future.

 

Hey, I had the DB high torque starter (offset gear reduction type) and it is a monster compared to the OEM starters and spins much faster.
I had a scare about two weeks prior and ordered another starter from DB. When it arrived, I noticed it was an OEM style, much smaller. I called DB and found that they were having so much trouble with that larger starter (made in China) that they quit stocking it. So, I am returning the OEM starter and am having to pay shipping on the return.
I do not think I will be buying much if any thing from those guys again.
However, mine died last week in the office parking lot - lucky me and had to use the OEM unit to get me home. I pulled it and carried it to a starter shop near the office and pulled it apart. Wow, the splined shaft on the armature body broke off just behind the spline....very weird.
I had that local shop replace the broken armature housing shaft with a REAL Denso unit and will use it as my spare backup.
I bit the bullet and purchased a true Nippon Dinso made in Japan and paid more, but feel I have a much better quality starter than the China knock off for the Denso.
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!