Thought I had battery issues as I was getting sluggish starts last week and into the weekend. Was bringing an extra battery along and once or twice it would jump off that when it otherwise would not on its own, so that reinforced my belief that the battery was going.

Today I was trying to jump off my 2004 and I know there is enough juice coming from those two batteries with that truck running. Well my 93 wouldn't engage the starter for nothing. Came home and tried jumping the solenoid directly to eliminate something wrong with the ignition unit. The solenoid wouldn't engage the starter until I started tapping around the front end of the starter with a pipe wrench. Then it turned over real strong. So nothing seems wrong with the starter motor at all just the solenoid.

should I pull it and tinker with it or just get a new one. if so what brands do you trust?

 

this is prob all it needs, its all 99% of them need...easy fix if you can r&r the starter you can do this

http://www.fostertruck.com/dodge-den...t-89-2006.html

 

There is no better brand than the original. If it is the original starter, It is definitely worth rebuilding. Take it to a good starter alternator place, they should be able to make it good as new...Mark

 

If you are smart enough to get the starter off the engine, then you are smart enough to follow these excellent instructions and fix it yourself.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=141395


If your starter is an original equipment Nippon Denso starter, DO NOT let it get away; DO NOT trade it in as a core.

All of the original equipment starters I have seen have the Chrysler "pentagon" emblem riveted on them.

When I take time, I intend to write an article showing how I have discovered a weak link in the Dodge starter system and cured it once and for all.

Go ahead and rebuild it for now, as what I do can be done without removing the starter.

 

the contacts get burnt up and need cleaning, I use a power wire brush, then file them smooth, work like new.just ck that every thing moves smooth.

 

Thanks for the pointers. I was hoping and thinking it would be something simple that I could take apart and clean up. Might end up getting that aftermarket solenoid, but I'm going to clean up the old one to get me going. I hate working out of my new truck.

 

take chris libs advice and get the good contacts probably all youll need

 

well, it's definitely an original denso motor. I pulled it and took the solenoid cover off and the contacts look pretty good. They definitely look used but not nearly as bad as the one in the pictures of the tutorial by BC847.

There are 200k miles on the truck so it looks like someone has replaced solenoid contacts at some point.

Wondering what else it could be? Like I said, with the solenoid hot wired directly from the battery I tapped the cover and the truck started after that. Since then, the two or three times I've started it before I took the motor off today, it has fired up without a problem.

Edit:
just took the motor off the assembly and the brushes look like hell. Almost bottomed out. Upon further consideration, I'd bet the entire starter, solenoid assembly has never been pulled. I bet the replacement contacts were done with assembly still bolted up. I definitely considered doing that first as I had a hard time getting the stiff breather hose out of the tight spot it was in.

 

The good screw-on brushes are nigh impossible to find; Larry Bs does have the good brushes.

DO NOT put the breather tube back between the starter and engine; life from that day forward will be easier for everyone concerned if you put that tube outside the starter.

With that tube out of the way, you can access all three bolts with swiveling extensions.

Clean and lube the bendix assembly.

 

I've found some other suppliers on the fleabay for the screw on brushes. Are you saying all brushes aren't created equal or just the screw on brushes in general are hard to find?

 

Just that, for these starters, screw-on brushes in general are hard to find.

Many versions of our starter used in other applications came with solder-on brushes; in fact, I think that the 2nd Gen. and later starters have the solder-on brushes.

If you have found a better price/deal for the screw-on brushes, I see no reason not to go that route.