BearKiller

Twice in the last few days, the wife has informed me of her truck being "draggy" when she tries to start it, like a weak battery would do.

Nine times out of ten, it will whirl over like a cyclone.

Sitting alone all night, it will crank like it should the next morning.

After an all night sit, the battery will show 12.6 or so volts.

The alternator shows a steady 15.0-volts at idle.

The battery is less than a month old, Group-31s, with CLEAN connections.

When it does this weak start business, it is after only a couple hours of sitting.


I am wondering if possibly the starter is warning me that it is time for a refresh; what do the experts think ??


Thanks.

wannadiesel

It's a good possibility. Check voltage drop through the battery cables before you rebuild the starter, though.

ofcmarc

Also check them while under load. I've seen them fail where they were fine until you pulled a load on them.

Tater93

Mine was doing the exact same thing, till the starter siezed up completely, at a very inopertune time. Wanna knows all about it. We were starting to blame the Yellow top Optima for not turning the engine over but it was the starter the whole time. I'd put my bet on the starter for sure.

Jim Lane

Do you have an induction ammeter so you can check how much current the starter is drawing when it drags?

Is the engine still warm after the few hours could be heat soak affecting the bearings or the windings.

An ammeter will check if it is dragging or not getting enough current to turn fast enough.

http://globalepower.com/Datasheets/Hoyt/Induction.pdf

http://www.kd-tools.com/2423.htm

Jim

matchew

Definately the starter...mine did the same a few weeks ago. Got a rebuild from Napa, now she starts like a new truck!

BearKiller

How does one go about this ??


I don't have an induction ammeter to test the starter when it gets draggy; of course, it always works fine until I ain't around.

I can see where one of those meters could come in handy.



I have an extra starter of unknown history.

I had been meaning to get the big contacts, new brushes, etc., and refresh this extra starter, then, one by one, replace each starter with a refreshed one, until I worked my way through all of them.

I guess I better quit procrastinating and get the contacts ordered.



Thanks.

wannadiesel

I don't know of any way to check for voltage drop when the cables aren't under load. If there's no load there is no voltage drop.

To check voltage drop in the cables, set your voltmeter on its lowest DC range. Hold the positive lead to the positive battery terminal, and the negative lead to the starter terminal. Disconnect the fuel shutoff or secure the manual shutdown lever so the engine will not start, and have an assistant crank the engine. If you see more than 0.25 volts on the meter, that is excessive drop meaning a bad cable or poor connection. The negative cable gets tested the same way except the positive voltmeter lead goes to the block and the negative lead goes to the negative battery terminal.

This also works on other high demand circuits like the blower motor, headlights, plow hydraulics, etc.

BearKiller

Thank you...............................

ofcmarc

Easiest way for me to do this has been to disable the engine from running then conect the positive lead of the multi-meter to the cable at the starter. The other lead goes to ground.

Crank away and wathc the meter. If the voltage drops significantly while cranking, the positive cable is bad....

I've see battery voltage at the starter when no load is on the cable but try to crank it and the cable opens under the load and the starter dosen't crank. The first one I found like that had absolutely NO visual indicator that there was a problem and a resistance check showed a normal reading as well.....

BearKiller

While we are discussing starters, would our system benefit from an upgrade such as this :

http://startercontacts.com/relay.htm


The way I understand it, this kit takes all of the factory KEY-SWITCH circuit out of the loop in much the same way that the head-light relays do for the head-light switch.


Thanks.

BearKiller

This is just purely musing on my part; but, is it remotely possible that herein might possibly lie the cause of my problem :

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...6&postcount=47


Due to some time-eating matters coming at me from different directions and the constant rain/lightening, I haven't yet up-sized that fuse.
ON EDIT: I just went out and checked. I had put a 30-amp fuse (the biggest I had) in that wire, instead of a 20-amp.

It may not have a thing to do with it, and the fact that the few times it has had draggy starts came on right after I cleaned up the fuse-link mess may just be all coincidence; then, as I think it through, if the starter-solenoid is not getting it's full allotment of juice, it could cause the contacts to not contact fully and, therefore, prevent the starter-motor from getting full-voltage, right ??


What are your thoughts on this, please ??


Thanks.

CaptainChrysler

That way works, but will not locate where the problem is. Could be either cable or a weak battery. Do like Wanna said on each cable. You can go right accross the batt. to check how much it is pulled down as well.

If your cables have any drop with out cranking, you have some really crummy cables.

Thunderhog

Sounds like it only does this after a "heat soak" I'm with Jim Lane on this one.
The voltage drop is a great test, however, if it is intermittent, check it when the symptom generally occurs, like after a 2 hour heat saok.

Thunderhog

These kits are mostly for the Chevrolet V8 type starter with the solenoid right next to the exhaust. Heat soak kills those things. Our trucks have a solenoid in the starter, however, they are far enough away from the exhaust to not generally have this problem. This is why most old Fords and Chryslers had the solenoid on the inner fender, or firewall.
So in a word, no you dont need this.