Cant get truck to start, Please Help if you can, Thanks

[Brainchild]

I would get a short cable,and run it from somewhere on the engine to the frame,just to be cerain it's got a good ground.It doesn't take much to make a ground,but it doesn't take much to loose it either,could just be something small that has shifted,and now this.

$.02

[garold99]

Could I use a jumper cable for this, just to test to see if it had a ground, or would that be too long? Or I could try and run a jumper cable from the negative post down to the starter body like cduster mentioned. If it works that way then I could replace the ground cable thats never been hooked up and go from there and see if that fixes it.

Would running a jumper from the negative battery post to the starter body be the same as running a ground cable from the engine to the body of truck?

[texnician01]

Sounds like a starter to me. I worked at Oreillys and some of their starters and alternators were complete junk. I tested 3 alternators one day before I found a good one. At that point I decided that the only starters and alternators I would use were the AC delco ones. Now I think they are Delphi but I've never had a problem with one of them. They should give you another starter no prob. all they have to do is warranty it under a customer satisfaction and it will be all good. If I was you I'd see if you can't just get your money back out of that one and put it towards a good Delco or Delphi.

Nathan

[spencra]

If you replaced the positive battery cable you might as well have replaced the negative battery cable as well. I had somewhat a similar problem. I replaced the posi cable because it sat against the manifold and burnt down to the wire. I replaced it and still nothing. I went back and got a negitive battery cable and it turned out that that old one was fried too. Truck starts fine now. I'm not saying that is your problem but if it is something as simple as that it will only cost you about $7-$8 to replace.
What kinda motor do you have that requires a 65" long posi cable? That souunds a bit long to me. if you have lots of slack you take the chance that the cable might decide to move and sit up against the block or manifold or something.

[garold99]

The motor is a 350. The only reason I bought the longer cable was so the starter could sit on the ground while I pulled the connections off. The first starter I ever replaced the positive cable was a short one. Let me tell you that wasnt any fun holding that sucker up while i disconnected the cables. I couldnt even prop it up on my headers because there wasnt enough room to get in there with the socket to disconnect.

Of course that was a number of years ago and Im much learned since then. But back to the cable I have now. It is longer than the one I originally pulled off, I could have gone a little shorter and still got what I wanted out of it, but I wasnt sure which length was on there and didnt want to run home and pull it off and then go back to parts store. I hate standing in those parts store lines, and in my town this store is always packed.

[garold99]

Oh yeah, the negative cable I changed out last year when I changed the alternator, so I figured it was still good.

[Sweet72]

Originally Posted by jjk3

Wouldn't it make sense that if he is getting a "click" then then voltage is getting to the starter from the NSS? John

Yes you can have full voltage to the starter but not enough current (amperage) to turn it over. This could be caused by dirty contacts in the NSS, the dirt doesn't allow full current flow. A corroded connection will give the same result.

A simple way to look at electricity is to relate it to water flowing through a pipe. Voltage is the force (pressure) that pushes current (water) through the wire (pipe). If current (water) flow is restricted by resistance [ie: corroded/worn/dirty terminal/connection] (restricted water pipe), the voltage will still be there but the current required to run the motor isn't there.

I'd jumper that neutral safety switch with a piece of 10-12ga wire and see if she starts consistently.

[WRMZ71]

jump the NSS and get a new starter. I'm done

[garold99]

Well it was the starter. I did what Cat Fuz said and took the starter back and told O'reily's that I had it tested at an electric motor shop and they said the windings were bad. O'reily's gave me a new starter after looking at the old one for a little bit and giving it a good once over.

Put new starter in and it fires up with a ton of power.

Thanks for the help all

[Sweet72]

Glad you finally got it. I've never had a starter do that. I guess that's one of those things you learn from experience.