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Starter or not, I've no idea


Manik
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Well, having an issue with the beast, my '95 pathy. It's been sitting up for a couple of weeks until the tires I ordered came in. Long story short, while it was sitting up it developed a slow and now a no start issue. It had been driven 2-3 times in the past couple of weeks and it seemed to get progressively worse. Now as I've mentioned before it's a no start, won't even roll over and the starters not clicking at all.

This literally happened tonight, so, I've yet to take a look at it and that probably won't happen until Saturday.

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone before and what, where I should be looking first.

I will probably check the starter wiring first. Any other ideas?

 

 

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check voltage on your battery posts.... then on the clamps. Sometimes the connection between the clamps and posts gets bad and there isn't enough juice to run the starter. A smack with a hammer or rock (or gracefully remove the clamps, clean the posts and reinstall) may solve the problem. If you are not hearing any 'click' when you turn the key, I would check your starter relay under the hood. You could even pull it and jumper (quickly to test) across it to see if you can throw power to the 'trigger' wire to the starter solenoid. You can also check to see if you are getting 12v at the relay when you turn the key. If you are not getting 12v from the ignition wire at the relay when you turn the key, it could either be your ignition switch or the inhibitor relay. You can bypass the inhibitor by running another wire if you need. I put a writeup in here somewhere on how to do that.

 

Good luck

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Oh yea, cleaned all the connections at the battery and tried to jump it with my 07 duramax and still the same issue. Once in a while you'll hear a very slight "click" but even that's pretty much gone. Tapping on the starter didn't help either. My wife's pretty much getting put out with my affinity for this truck.

 

 

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I had/have the exact same issue. My truck was up on stands while i worked on back brakes etc. So far everything leading to my starter has checked ok, so now im just waiting for a new starter brush assembly.... Same year of truck, maybe take out your starter, clean it up, and have it looked at and bench tested/diagnosed professionally. Good luck

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bench testing a starter is pretty simple with a set of jumpers and a piece of wire. use the jumper cables to connect the + battery post to the post on the starter (where you attach the big fat wire). Attach the casing of the starter to ground (frame, liftpoint, battery, whatever). Then take a small wire (14g or so) or clip leads and hook one end to the + clamp on the starter so you have 12v on the wire. Stand on the starter cause it will want to spin away and touch the other end of the small wire to the lug on the solenoid. It should come to life. If it's sluggish or does not run at all, your starter most likely needs to be cleaned/rebuilt.

 

 

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When my starter was going out it would turn over slow. At times it would freeze and I would have to turn the key off and try again. It eventually just stopped working. It wouldn't even click.

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Do you have a multimeter ? I could give you some areas to test if you do.

Yes I have a multimeter. I want to say this entire problem is a relay, which is probably wishful thinking.

 

 

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Okay well I like to work backwards personally. Start at the end and work back to where the issue is. Testing relays is pretty easy. You will have 4-6 wires going to each relay. Generally, a small coil and ground wire that engages the contacts and 2-4 thicker switched power wires. What you want to do is set the volts to 20 on your meter, place the negative lead on any ground point on the vehicle or on the negative battery post. Then you use the positive probe to test where there's voltage. First identify the feed line to the relay. This wire will be a thicker wire and will have 12 v high all the time, even when the vehicle is off. Identify which thicker wires have 12v and which ones don't have 12v. The thicker wire (s) that have no voltage when the vehicle is off are your switched side contacts that feed the starter solenoid. What you want to do is place the test lead on that thicker wire that natively has no voltage on it and then have someone turn the key to on. If you see 12v appear then you know the contacts closed and the relay works fine. You then move up the line to the next component in the circuit. This is usually the clutch interlock relay if you have manual or the inhibitor relay if you are automatic.

Edited by Nefarious
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The clutch interlock switch is working. The issue sounds like the starter solenoid. Not sure yet as I haven't had time to dig into it.

 

 

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Ok. In the process of troubleshooting I've come up with this theory, I currently have NO voltage drop at the battery upon attempt to start, given that, I'm thinking open circuit, possibly a fuseable link?

 

 

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Looking through the manual now to try and determine which of the relays on the fender well is a / the starter relay.

 

 

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Yea, my thought process has been solenoid issue, but, just like the old Chevy engines, just replace the starter and be done. I'm troubleshooting this myself so I'd like to know where the relay is so I can "crank it" without having to turn the key.

 

 

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