Dad pointed out that just lately the starter seems to drag on the truck , like it is working harder.

had the batteries tested , shop said both were "ok" but if anything the one on the passenger side was the weakest of the 2.

is it possible they are just weak enough , or is it possible the contacts in the starter are going south? a new starter was put on in march.

 

The starter can drag, it can quit completely or it can run on burning up your fuel solenoid. All can be caused by bad contacts. The only way to know for sure is pull it and look and if you are going to do that you might just as well put LARRY b's contacts and plunger in. You won't have to worry about it then and it's a pretty reasonable price for the kit.

 

First thing I would do is run a volt check of your system.What is the age of your batteries? What is the cca rating of the batts? You need a minimum rating of 750cca, and up in Canada I would go with 1000 cca rating. Make sure the cable connections are clean and at the starter and grounds on the block. You should have a static voltage at the batts of 12.6 v(useing a good dvom), after sitting over night or if you just shut it down turn the headlights on for 2-3 min and check it, cranking volts should be 10.5 volts or higher, when you stop cranking the volts should recover to about 12.2 imediately and climb to 12.5 over the next several min. Low or weak batts can take out a starter or contacts in a short period of time. If you have low volts or slow recovery, replace the batts. If volts are good, run a voltage drop test on the cables to make sure they are good. Then if all checks good the problem is in the starter or the oil is too heavy. If your cranking volts drop below 10.5 and has good recovery, the starter has too much draw and should be repaired. If it cranks slow with 11.5 volts or more, and the cables test good the starter is weak and needs to be repaired.

 

Batteries were in the truck when we got in last october , they are rated at 1200 CCA each , so they have (or had) lots of juice. starter was new in march. I am away from the truck until wednesday , and if it isn;t supremely cold i might try a few things.

another question on this subject , if i do replace the batteries , i will be looking at going to optima's . But is red top or yellow top or? better? what is the CCA of each?

 

Group 34 optimas (red top) is the starting battery and the yellow tops are deep cycle.

They carry them at Walmart out west.

 

So i would be looking at red tops? correct?


do you know what the CCA of them is?