You might be thinking another starter problem that has an electrical solution. Not this one!

Background: I replaced battery(6years old), starter(looked original), relay replaced, new hot wire from battery to starter/solenoid, good clean ground.

Problem: Intermittently, the truck will not start even though an audible sound form the starter is heard. The sound is clearly the magnet releasing the plunger as the key start is released. The same sound can be heard when "jumping" the starter from the "+" bat. terminal directly to the solenoid post. To me this is a sign that the plunger is not moving far enough to complete the circuit. The starter will bench test perfect 10/10 times. Put it in the truck and it will fire right up the first try. However, sometimes when I try and start it again problem reoccurs. Seems to be heat related. Let the engine sit and cool and the starter may work. Lately, since the onset of summer. I can only get it to start by taking the starter out and reinstalling it.

My thought:
I have had the transmission (Getrag) out several times. The last time I notice one of the alignment dowel pins was missing from the bell housing. The trans and clutch operate flawlessly. Could it be that the bell housing is off just enough to interfere with the plunger as to not allow the circuit to connect and other times not interfere?

My plan: Loosen the bolts enough to allow slight movement and try and rotate the bell housing in the direction I think is correct and tighten back up.

What do you guys think? Any experience with this?

Thank you in advance for your time.

 

The starter is aligned by the engine adapter plate, not the bellhousing, if the bolts are aligned it should be fine.
Not working/slow cranking when hot is typical of a starter being worn out.

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I"m not sure what model of starter you have on your truck but on my old 96 5.2 1500 it was a Denso starter and the contact plates in the solenoid wore down so much that it would the same thing you are describing. If you take the endplate of the solenoid you should see what I'm talking about.

 

Depending on the age of the starter it may just be contacts, but I have seen failing bearings cause the drive to hang and act just like this, I used to maintain a fleet of Toyota forklifts and Kubota tractors that use the same basic starter design.
If you can get the parts the actual motor seldom wears out, these starters are very robust

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The starter is brand new not rebuilt. I even put the old one back in and it does the same thing.
In the Dodge Service Manual it gives a procedure for measuring the fitment of the bell housing to the end plate. This tells me it is important for those two to be aligned. The dowel pins give fractional accuracy that just the bolts cannot give. My concern is that due to the missing dowel pin that a few thousandths of an inch might just be enough and as the metal expands with heat it compounds the problem which I think is an interference issue because all the normal causes do not exist here. Thanks for your thoughts.

If not what could it be?

 

Mine did this too.

I found out that the stud on the solenoid that sends the current when you twist the key (forgot it's name ) is only held in by a piece of plastic.

When I took apart my brand new starter to see why it wouldn't work, I found two large uninsulated copper wires connected to this stud.

When I had tightened up the little nut on the stud, it spun the stud breaking one of the copper wires off and only leaving one wire connected. This was NOT allowing enough current through to make the starter work. These wires look like ground wires on what you would find in your house. (don't know the gauge, I'm a electrical feeb!!!!) sorry.

I took a piece of a spare chunk of left over ground wire from a reno project and added it to the wires in the solenoid and soldered it all together, problem solved.

Be careful when you are trying to dissemble the starter. I put mine in a padded vise but it was tricky to get it to stay there without falling out or rolling over.

Good luck!!

 

I appreciate everyone's thoughts but as I did, focusing on the starter gets me no where. Two different starters bench test fine but as soon as they are put in the truck problem occurs. True, starter bolts up to the engine mounting plate but the bell housing bolts over the starter in the casting recess. Could this be off just enough to cause this problem...

I am hoping someone has had this problem and can reassure me before I get busy!

At any rate, I will let you guys know what happens.

Thanks.

 

Take a look at the teeth on your fly wheel. I've had bad teeth (damaged, not missing) cause the starter to not engage the flywheel.

 

Anything interfering with the drive gear engaging the flywheel ring gear will prevent the solenoid from closing. That could be alignment or burrs on the teeth. If the starter is mounted to the adapter plate, then bell housing to adapter plate fit would not be a factor. Adapter plate to engine fit would be a factor.

On the solenoid internal wire problem. Those wires are not bare, they are insulated with a coat of clear enamel. The solenoid is wound with 2 wires in hand, so if one is broken, you'll basically have a half power solenoid. Likely it would work on the bench and not always in the truck. A side note: 2 in hand winding is used to get slightly more copper on the spool. It's used when the amount of space available is not quite enough to get the required number of turns required with a single strand. The smaller conductors are also easier to terminate.

The breakage is an installer problem, and if I'm correct. the same installer (you) has worked on both of the failing starters.

 

The flywheel was replaced along with the clutch,transmission, and transfer case. As far as installer error on the starter itself. The reason I replaced the old starter in the first place is due to the symptoms I have been describing. So, the old starter could only be effected when I tightened the bell housing back on the engine plate which along with the starter was never touched while I did all the other work. I do believe interference is occuring somehow. I think I will put paint on the end of the starter and see if I can tell what it is coming in contact with.