My starter has been acting up recently. At first i thought it was my batteries, i have dual ac delco 1000 cca with only 6 months under their belt. They checked out good, so i went to the starter, what has been happening is that when i let the truck cycle and try to start the truck, it makes one click and then nothing. it's like the plunger is sticking almost. if i leave the key in the crank position and have someone reach down and tap the starter with a wrench, it engages and the truck starts after one crank. I was wondering what i have to do to fix this, a rebuild, or a brand new starter. i don't know how long i should keep doing this, because leaving the key in the start or crank position will wear out your shutoff solenoid faster than you can say,"Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore." any help would be apreciated. TIA

 

Replace the starter contacts. Here's what mine looked like after 170K miles. Pretty common problem. The new ones are oversized for longer life.

http://www.fostertruck.com/dodge/default.htm

 

Thanks, i ordered em just now and will install them as soon as possible.

 

Pulling the starter is a fairly easy job. You might want to take it to a car wash and pressure wash the sucker before you start. Start with the top bolt, hardest one to reach. Make sure you disconnect the batteries! Don't ask me how I know that.

Take your time putting in the new contacts, clean it up good, make sure everything goes back in place where is was. Kinda a fun job actually. The instructions that come with the contacts are pretty good, and easy to follow.

Thank you for your service to our country.

Semper Fi.

 

thanks for the advice ,i will do that. I used to live in nebraska before i joined the marine corps. i lived in Springfield, Nebraska. Someday i hope i can move back there, but with me not planning to get out of the military, and there not being a marine base there, looks like i'll make my visits twice a year to the family. where r u located at, i get back in town in april, i should look ya up, go to the bar and have a few beers on me. thanks again.


SEMPER FI, DO OR DIE

 

I'm buying! Your money is no good in Lincoln. If you get up this way give me a shout. We'll take the Smarty out for a spin.

 

you buy,hmm, you'd better take out that second mortgage now, lol. hell yeah, i always make my way down to UNL to see my boys at the fraternity, and breath that husker air again. i will definetly look you up.

 

I wonder if mine needs these? lately after my wait to start light goes off, its really hard to start, like the batteries are almost dead, could this be the problem? Or should I drop some coin on a couple of red tops?

 

Go get your batteries individually load tested , that should answer your question pretty quickly.

 

I would replace them just because they have never been replaced. Look at my stock ones, then look at the "Supersized" contacts you are buying. More contact area = better starting.

Yes, that could be your problem. I did the same thing, except I spent the money on new batteries also.

 

it turns out it was my batteries, one of the posts actually melted off the battery, haha

 

yeah def diconnect the battery or u will find out y. i had a starter rebuilt completely about 3 weeks ago. mine would start up but it would like sort of drag and act like it didnt want to start and this was after i installed one of those dry-cell 1700 batteries which i would recommend to all. the temp wasnt much factor with the starting b/c it was only like 30 out. but after the rebuild i have never had a prob with it and it looks brand new. the rebuild only cost me $45 which i thought was a deal b/c i priced a new one at over $100.