In a nut shell, I year ago the original starter gave up while working on the road ( had seen new contacts etc), No time to fix so swung into my local and got one of their premium lifetime brands starter #1, installed and started truck but starter seemed slow ( Battery and elec tested fine) 2 months later this starter slowed to a point of not starting truck, got it exchanged, New one #2 was like brand new, lots of power, 6 months ago it quit altogether, so replaced with #3. 1 month ago that starter, would start and not shut down, I had to remove the fuel solenoid, to stop engine then disconnect batteries after pulling the starter solenoid as a try, All electrical checked out, returned it and got another. (was told at this point that no more returns unless Mopar certified Mechanic did the diagnoses) So happy too have #4 in hand and installed, all was good until 4 days ago. I hopped in the truck and turned the key to start, nothing but silence, opened the hood and did the same, I could hear the starter solenoid clicking and that is it. Got out a breaker bar and gave the starter a whack and it started right up. This has done it every day since after the truck has been driven (warm) not from an overnight stop. ( Whacking it says it is the starter to me)

Can this starter also be bad, or am I missing something, and how premium is premium? How do I get a Mopar Cert to diagnose a intermittent problem? All other diagnoses has been by a Heavy duty Mechanic or Submarine electrical Engineer ( neighbour) Thanks if you can help, that is my whine

 

No, you aren't missing anything other than you trust current day rebuilds too much.

I ate thru a few before I bought a new NAPA starter, that has been 3 years now, but I don't trust it as far as I would an OEM one. It was 235 bucks at my local NAPA, and fostertruck.com will be selling my next one to me.

http://www.fostertruck.com/starters-67.html

Nothing is worse than a truck you can't count on to start............

 

With a 5spd you don't need a starter

I would look at your cables and connectors aswell.

 

Only four?
NEW: OEM/factory starter purchased from Dodge/Cummins at insane price. (it better be good).
USED: Starter removed from wrecked truck under big assumption that truck was not wrecked due to the starter being weak. (should be good).
REMANUFACTURED: Take a few hundred truck loads of starters that are junk, worn out at least once. Dump these on the ground somewhere south of the border. Run them through somewhat of an assembly line where they are mass taken apart and re-assembled with the cheapest labor and cheapest parts known to man. And the parts are a small variety of stuff that "generally" wears out.
Transport back across the border and sell as remanufactured with a good warranty.
Because, a good part is not what we want. A good warranty is what we want.
We must not mind the labor, and, sooner or later...surely....one of them will work. (or that's the theory anyway).
And the warranty starters that didn't work? They are on a truck headed back south, to try the same thing again, where they will more than likely fail....again, and again.

Reman U.S.A. same thing but the labor is higher making the starter cost more.

 

Generic auto parts starters are designed for gassers that don't have the high compression of a diesel engine.
If it has a lifetime warranty and you use it you'll become a starter changing expert in no time.
Only buy an OEM unless you want to become an changing expert stuck on the side of the road.
Price here is about as good as it gets> http://www.fostertruck.com/94-02-dod...w-starter.html

 

I can say I am 95% this is not a gasser starter, looks like an original type ( and numbers cross match) but can not speak for the guts. These are Napa Premium units ( if I am allowed to say that) so I can not explain. Time to double check all cables and connections, I will probably pull the starter and check the insides of the solenoid. Thanks for the input.

One thing, how do I get rid of the advertising in my first post, I can't figure it out and don't want to be associated with it ? Thanks

 

What advertising? Do you mean the quick link on the word "solenoid"? I am curious whats up with the auto quick links as well.

 

Re: advertising , every time I log in and go to this post I see an image in my first post I did not put there, here is a screen shot,

 

We have a company or two here that "rebuilds" them in house. They take your old one, and within a half day, you get it back, better than new.... or at least most of the time.

They put a lot of emphasis on the quality of the job, otherwise, I wind up walking back in there all p.o'd....

I think you can rebuild them yourself, as there might be a sticky somewhere on how to do so. Getting high quality parts is the only real issue I can think of, as it's not that complicated of a job.

 

I bring my OEM starters to a local shop that re-builds them.
The standard parts store rebuilds are..well Redliner nailed the description.

 

Happened again today, another whack with a bar and away I went. Since it is intermitant and I am thinking solenoid coil, I am going to hook up a small 12v light on the trigger side and one on the opposite side that feeds the starter, and run them up under the hood by the wiper. That way the next time it happens ( and I am sure it will) I an tell right away if, #1 there is power at the trigger wire from the key-starter relay, and #2, if the power is going thru the starter solenoid to the windings side. this should help determine if it is brushes/windings/solenoid or wiring to/from starter. This starter was $360 and I will give it a bit of my time b4 I toss it, a break in the solenoid windings may be tuff for any shop to pick up ?

 

Unfortunately, our new owners have decided to maximize their profits, nothing we can do about it.

 

So today I removed the starter and opened up the plunger/solenoid, all looked good no broken wires, What I did notice is that on this "Premium Rebuild" they have installed an all steel plunger instead of the steel/copper type that is OEM and aftermarket, talk about cost savings to the nickel, original size contacts, nothing special about this at all. hopefully the "Premium" is in the bearings/brushes etc. I also connected some LEDs which I mounted at the hood/wiper arm area I can see from inside the cab. One hooked to the trigger side and one to the feed to starter side. Now if it quits working it will give me some indication as to what. So now I wait until it dies again.

Patdaly, thanks for the info on the advertising, kind of figured something like that

 

Found out yesterday that the original agreement was for those links NOT to be enabled when members are signed in, only for guests not signed in, so our team is working on the problem.

They may well get disabled yet.

 

Update, so it has been a week since I took the "new" starter apart, checked every thing, swapped out the new steel plunger for a very good condition copper used one, and hooked up 2 indicator lights and so far a clean start every time, so can't confirm what the problem is/was at this point but hopefully it is gone