So sometimes, like 2-3 times a month or so, my starter stays engaged after the engine statrs. It only does it once and has never repeated after a shut down and restart. I'm not familiar with Cummins starters as this is my first one. Is there a solenoid on there, a bendix going south, or are do I have bad starter contacts like I've read about?...

 

Just had mine replaced again. Mine had a reman from 1.5 years ago and it seems they have issues sometimes. I got one from NAPA. Lifetime warranty for a discaounted $ of 140 !!! Not bad.

Mine had hard starts. like if batt dead sometimes. Replaced both batt. Not the problem. Then one day bye bye no start!

Now it starts in 1 sec with 2-3 engine truns.


I think sometimes the grime of the enigne and road along with

RAIN, FLOODS, AND SNOW get to the insides of the starter and kill it slowly.

Just my .02! Good luck.

 

Sounds like your starter contacts are going out. Its a common thing among Rams. However they are cheap and easy to rebuild yourself. Read this thread:

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...arter+contacts

 

It is probably the starter contacts welding together. One fix is the aftermarket larger contacts for about 35 bucks. The other is to replace the starter with a lifetime from Auto Zone or O'Reiley or other. I got a new one from AZ and had it replaced about 6 mo later when it toasted. The replacement now works great.

In any case you need to fix it as the contacts can stick and the starter will run untill it burns up literally or the battery goes dead. The first time mine chose both

 

I'll get the parts on order and do the job at work. ( I hope the taxpayers don't mind and my boss helps.) Thanks for the link Jrs.. I'll post my results after the job.

 

My starter did the click click thing on me a couple of years ago. I knew about the situation with the contacts but I thought with 180,000km on the truck why not be safe and put in a reman starter. It lasted almost 1 year and started to go crappy again. I thought it was my batteries, but I tested them and they were OK. What the.... . Any way I dug around underneath and I discovered the bolts holding the starter case together were all loose. Damm. Tightened up the bolts, but no luck. Even more luck as I was within warranty but I did not have the warranty card. Had to buy a new starter.
Alan

 

Good replies about starters, but has anyone had one that stayed engaged after startup. It sounds horrible. However, after shutdown, the starter will act like it should. I'm gonna pull her out and do the overhaul as mentioned above. The hangig up part baffles me..

 

In my '96 the starter began to stay engaged after start up, took it to the dealer who said that it was not a problem. Eventually it would stay engaged after turning the ignition off, finally about 2am one night it did it again again would not shut off with the key removed, engine started to smoke and a part (that I cannot recall) completely caught fire. Of course, this was a 96 which is a slightly different engine from the 24 valves.

 

I ordered the contacts after the starter kept cranking after start-up and immediate shutdown. The key was out just like yours and the motor cranked. I didn't know what to do.. I'm not that fast at pulling battery cables and I would assume there would be some awesome arcing going on if you did get them off. Hopefully I get the parts soon...

 

PC...mine did exactly that. Unfortunately I'm hard of hearing and too vain to get a hearing aid. Anyhow I didn't hear it stick and continue running. Drove to work and shut it off and didn't even hear it then. Come out at night to go home and no start. So I weaseled under the truck and grabbed the wires and .. yeeow fires shot out of the starter where the wires enter. It started glowing red and smoking. I ran inside and grabbed the fire extinguisher but by the time I came back I think the battery was finally dead and the starter was totally toast. Stink oh man . Bottom line 5 mile walk to AZ and back with new starter and tools. The new starter was not really up to cranking as it should but the AZ guy says I had to burn it up to get a new one. 9 mo later I did just that and got a new one on warantee. This one works great. So there is a lot of quality variance in these.

 

Go to NAPA and get a lifetime starter. Just to surprise yourself, run diagnostics and see how many times that old starter has cranked that six gun over.....You will be amazed!

 

Why replace when I can rebuild? I got the parts in a few days ago and I'm awaiting down time at work. Starters are too expensive. Besides, the guy that gets my core is gonna do the same thing to it..rebuild...