My COVID-19 Project - Kill the gremlins! (1 Viewer)

[UGA2018]

I can’t go anywhere and neither can my truck. It’s a 1986 60 series. I rebuilt the engine ~3000 miles ago. I loved the mechanical work and hate the electrical gremlin chasing.

So here’s what’s up. I turn the key and get nothing. I have 12.4 with my multi-meter on the battery. I checked and cleaned the battery cables. Everything is clean and tight.

Here’s the backstory..... about 2 months ago I ran to Home Depot. Jumped in my truck to leave and turned the key and got nothing. I turned off and on about 15 times and all of the sudden she cranked up like nothing happened. 2 weeks later same thing.

Starters are cheap and I thought that was it so I replaced the starter. Cranked perfectly for a month. Then I get 1 click sound and then nothing. Click sound makes me think solenoid but it’s a brand new starter so that would be strange.

This started happening more frequently. The dash lights would come on, I get a click then nothing. Wait about an hour and same thing.

Now... no dash lights, no click, no crank.

I’m not an electrical guy. Would greatly appreciate any advice troubleshooting this. Thanks guys!

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Check your grounds!
Battery
Starter to frame
Passenger side rear engine to firewall.

 

[fjc-man]

Yah, after you check everything Jorge listed and haven’t had any luck replace the electrical portion of the ignition switch. Oh, and your inbox is full.

 

[UGA2018]

Check your grounds!
Battery
Starter to frame
Passenger side rear engine to firewall.

By “check” can we define that further. Remember I’m a novice at electrical. I confirmed all cables are connected and not loose including grounds. Battery is fully charged. How do I do starter to frame and passenger side to engine firewall? Does it matter which I place the positive and negative on?

 

[UGA2018]

Yah, after you check everything Jorge listed and haven’t had any luck replace the electrical portion of the ignition switch. Oh, and your inbox is full.

I cleaned our the inbox. Thx!

I’m assuming the ignition switch is in the steering column behind the key ignition right? What should I be looking for?

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

By “check” can we define that further. Remember I’m a novice at electrical. I confirmed all cables are connected and not loose including grounds. Battery is fully charged. How do I do starter to frame and passenger side to engine firewall? Does it matter which I place the positive and negative on?

By checking I mean visually see they are all tighten down and that they are not cut or split at the ends and along the cables themselves.
Are your battery clamps in good condition and tight?

 

[onemanarmy]

Check battery conenctions. I had the same thing happen to me in a j**p.
Make sure they are clean and plenty tight.
In addition to above ideas.

 

[OSS]

If a "click" can be heard at the starter but the starter doesn't turn over, the problem isn't the ignition switch (on the steering column in the cab).
The problem is either the starter solenoid inside the starter isn't working properly, the battery is worn out, or the positive or negative cables connecting to the battery terminal are making poor contact.
A worn out old battery can be charged so it shows normal voltage but the moment a load is placed on it, it chokes.

 

[Gretsch]

I have seen similar behavior with mine, although different circumstances. Mine has trouble starting in cold weather. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of time to get going. If I have to crank on it for a long time, towards the end of the crank session, when the battery is becoming more and more discharged, mine can start to act like the OP's. Turn the key and nothing. Wait a bit and it starts to crank. Its like as the battery becomes discharged, the available amps for activating the starter solenoid become less and less to the point the solenoid eventually just stops activating. I think this supports what @OSS is saying about a worn out battery. If its been awhile since its been replaced, you might think about doing that or at least have it checked with a tester. The suggestion to double check your grounds is sound as well. I recently replaced all my main battery cables, including all the grounds. Was night and day difference with regards to cranking power. I would start with simple things instead of going straight to ignition key. You can always try bypassing the key switch with a remote starter switch to see if its the ignition key itself. HTH.

 

[MNKeith]

By checking grounds, I'd disconnect all of them, sand both the cable end and the surface (emory cloth or fine grit paper), wipe down, apply a conservative amount of electrical grease, reconnect. Do the same with your + battery cable. If you do that, then I'd feel more comfortable moving on to other things.

 

[g-man]

A weak battery or bad contacts is prime suspect. Make sure to remove the cables and clean the battery posts with a wire brush. Make sure the wire terminals are shiny clean too.

Load test the battery. Many auto parts stores can do this for you.

Remove and wire brush or scour your grounds with sand paper or emery cloth. These grounds are (1) near the battery at the fender, (2) at the firewall behind the pass side of the motor, (3) at the pass frame coming off the starter. (4) there is one under the a/c compressor but may be a pain to get to. Sand or clean to bare shiny metal the fender, firewall, and frame at the attachment point before reinstalling the ground.

also check your fusible links (located at the postive battery post) Unplug each end and make sure there are no burn marks. Make sure the wires between the green and white plug (the fusible links) are not burned. You could also ohm test these while you have it disconnected. Make sure the end terminals on the starter wire are clean and tight on both ends and that is is not burned or in any way shorting on the motor or any other metal where it could have nicked or worn the insulation.

 

[brian]

have you tried hitting the starter?
the last couple of cheap starters i threw at mine, were questionable rebuilds right out of the box.

 

[UGA2018]

You guys are great! Really appreciate the ideas.

The battery is pretty new and showing 12.4 so I ruled that out. I decided to pull the cables off the battery and clean them and the nuns on the battery. Although they didn’t look very dirty this seemed to do the trick. The truck has cranked probably 30 times without a problem. I’ll likely go back and scrub those connectors and all of the grounds down further.

Thanks for the help guys!