my truck wont start!(click click click)

[jgilbs]

so i did my clinicals in cedar rapids on sat night, and my car started fine to and from there, so i got home and parked it and went to bed. later in the day, i went to start it, and it wouldnt start. i got the whine of the fuel pump, and then one click of the starter, like one would expect with an extreamley low battery. tried charging the battery, but it still wouldnt start. took the battery back to autozone(its still under warranty) and had them charge it to a full charge. tried again and it STILL doesnt work. all my terminals were tightly conencted, but now i noticed my negative terminal is getting very hot. could this signal a possible cause? pos terminal is still cold to the touch. what could cause my elec system to die all of a sudden for no reason?

 

[IZwack]

the starter solenoid is probably stuck (its not coming out all the way) or the solenoid is just shot. did you try the tap hammer trick thing? basically you tap the starter body with a hammer a few times, and turn the key. the positive terminal usually does not get hot because, contradictory to popular belief, electons actually stream FROM the negative side of the battery and INTO the positive side (an electron has a negative charge).

 

[ryf]

woah, nowadays smacking a starter with a hammer isn't good general advise, since the make the housings out of lighter materials you could put a good starter out of commission..

the solenoid is the loud click click you hear when you turn the key, this is on the passenger side fender right above the tire on the inside. I would say, like most older vehicles, you probably do have a bad starter, and its probably a bad spot on the starter, which you COULD hit it with a hammer, but if its a newer starter, and not bad you could damage it.

I would advise taking the starter and solenoid both and replacing them, as they are both suspect, but its probably the starter unless you ran it without oil and seized your block

 

[IZwack]

"tap".. not "smack"... but i guess all of this is relative from person to person

 

[jgilbs]

starter was replaced 2 years ago, and that wouldnt cause my battery to lose all of its charge (i only tried it a few times, i didnt let it drain the batt too much)
i also tried to bypass the solenoid by touching the 2 terminals with a screwdriver to start it, but that didnt work either.

 

[marragtop]

Does the negative terminal only get hot when you trying to crank it, or does it also get hot with the key in the on position?

 

[ryf]

well, with our older trucks the word on here is the wiring is suspect on the battery and the wire from the solenoid to the starter could be bad, you could try using a jumper cable to go straight to the starter from the starter solenoid. if this doesn't work, try to the battery, if it spins from the battery and not from the solenoid, it could be the wire to the solenoid or the solenoid itself....

the negative getting hot could be a sign of deteriorated wiring, and the wires heating up because it has less continuity, much like using lamp cord as jumper cables........

but any wire given enough amperage can heat up if its left carrying current. your starter may be seized/flat spotted and the amps are heating up the wires if you are leaving the ignition in the start position for long periods of time.


izwack, my point is the new casings are not supposed to be tapped or smacked, and doing so could break somethingthat isn't broke.... its not a matter of the term, but of the process. they are making the castings out of other materials that can crack/chip fairly easily. I've tapped a starter 5+ years ago to get it out of a flat spot, but then I replaced it since obviously the starter was faulty.

 

[F14CRAZY]

Try removing the battery terminals and cleaning both the posts and the terminals, with hard sandpaper or wire brush. The same thing has happened to me before so I clean my terminals at about every oil change. I would replace the terminals and would probably fix the problem but I'm too lazy.

 

[DeRocha]

ryf: Your point it taken, but I have tapped my starter to get it moving several times before replacing the starter. As Izwack mentioned the operative word is tap not beat the crap out of. Many members have done this, and I haven't heard of any issues with broken parts. If tapping your starter does get it working it indicates your starter does have a flat spot which will only get worse over time (so replace it).

 

[TPLYNCH]

The battery cables, especially on the first gen trucks are prone to rotting on the inside. If the battery cables have never been replaced, I'd do it and see what happens

 

[jgilbs]

When I installed my center console, I used 4 ga wire to power everything, and fused it with a 40A fuse. The wire was touching ground through some thin insulation, so it was allowing current to drain, but not blow the fuse. Fixed the wire and everything works great now

 

[IZwack]

ah fantastic!!! So ITS ALL GOOD!! ! time for some lemonade then