I just got back to my truck today to try and get it going. Last weekend I tried and it'd crank, but not start. Today the plan was to try again by unhooking the grid heaters and using some ether.

Didn't get that far - somehow my key for the truck wasn't where I thought it was, so I figured I'd hotwire it by giving some current to the starter solenoid wire.

What that did was crank it over about half a revolution or something and then to a screeching halt! Even when jumping the battery from my other truck, it'd still do this. No "click click click" type sound when it'd stop, just the sound of the starter motor trying VERY hard to keep turning (naturally I stopped it as soon as it'd stop turning).


Last weekend it was turning over just fine with the key, and it hasn't been touched since then. I'm going back tomorrow with the key, but I'm real worried that somehow the starter got fried.

Another thing that worries me is that I had this exact problem with my old Dodge RV with a 413 V8. One day the starter just would not crank the engine like it should've, and it took 3 replacement starters before one somehow worked.

Anyone have any idea what's going on?

 

i think the starter is bad/ corrioded try hitting it, if that works then its a bad starter. mine did the same thing worked in the morning then when i got home and tried to leave again, it didn't work. replaced it and that fixed the problem.

 

Was it doing the same slowness thing or just plain not working?

 

the first time i tryed it the day it went bad it cranked slow then click,click. then i tried it again, click and so on... then hit it with an 1 1/4 wrench started right up bad contacts.

 

Oh, figured that I should post that I "solved" the problem...

I think it is due to the starter just not getting enough juice for some reason, in this case, that my jumper cables (and spare, charged battery) must have been lousy.

When I previously tried it and it cranked over but didn't start, I think it was just not getting enough power to crank FAST enough. The last time when it'd crank half a revolution and stop, I think it was not getting enough power to overcome the compression. I've always come to expect a "click click click" when there isn't enough power to make the starter turn. Not sure why it wasn't doing that.

In any case, I noticed that after about 10 minutes of the jumper cables being hooked up with no attempt to crank, the volt meter on the diesel truck moved up a notch. I let it charge for a good half an hour, then tried it, and it fired right off. Whew.

 

thats good starters arent cheap