no crank but there is smoke!

[mr_valingo]

ive got a 95 sport with a newish starter (4-5months old). above 0 degrees F it will crank over and run fine. if it drops below 0, however, I only hear the click of the solenoid on the starter. no crank. if I heat the starter up with a torch, it'll fire right up. last night I pulled the starter and tore it down, cleaned, and reassembled. everything went well and looked good until I tried to start the truck and the ignition wire to the solenoid started on fire. ok...pulled the starter back out. tested it with a jump pack and it functioned perfectly. put it back in, ran a new wire to the fender solenoid, and it fired right up. but again this morning in the -30 windchill crap weather....just clicked.


Any thoughts??

 

[koda2000]

have you had your battery load tested? is the battery the correct CCA for your truck? are you battery cables and terminals good? i think maybe heating the starter up reduces the amps needed to crank the engine when cold.

 

[mr_valingo]

die hard agm with way more cca's than needed. all cables to starter are now new. starter wont spin at all until heated when its cold. once heated I can pull the fuel pump relay and crank the motor over and over and over and over. (wanted to check if cranking was pulling an excessive load) is it possible the solenoid on the starter is taking a crap?

 

[corkey]

yes, they do go bad too,, weird thing is that works when heated,,

but the fire from the solenoid wire is the key,. it overheated the wire,, that means dead short in the solenoid,,

 

[masospaghetti]

Did you run a new wire to the battery? I think it was a common problem for the positive battery wire to become internally damaged at the battery terminal and severely reduce the amount of current it could pass. The factory wire was a bit too short and was stressed because of it.

 

[mr_valingo]

yessir. power, ground, and signal. ive also been careful to only heat the starter and not cables or the solenoid

 

[mr_valingo]

Update. I'm pretty sure the starter solenoid had a dead short...but I've been unable to duplicate. Damn thing has been working fine.