biker55

Hello all, a couple of days ago while doing errands was stopped and turned my truck off in first gear. went to restart and the only thing I kept hearing was a clicking noise. had it towed to the dealership and they replaced the starter. today while stopped at the post office the truck did the same thing. wiggled the wires at the relay and starter and the truck started. could it be that there was an issue with the wiring and not the starter? thanks

Steve@Tasca

What year truck, it's entirely possible that you have bad battery cables. They can corrode inside the insulation and cause an intermittent no start.

I've seen 30 year mechanics fooled into replacing a starter by a bad set of cables.

-Steve

TLB4

Clicking means the relay is hammering on and off due to bad electrical connections. Starter was probably totally fine. Double check all your connections, redo any of the sketchier ones and you should be good to go again. A low battery will cause this too, but since it started fine, probably the cables.

biker55

thanks for the responses will check the cables. but I'll be upset if it was just a cable problem. it was a $300+ starter replacement at the dealer. wouldn't it be a process of elimination, checking connections, wires, etc. and testing the starter to confirm before replacing. or am I stupid to assume this? if it is the cables where can I purchase them at a reasonable price.

w0lvez

It's either the Dealer are full of Stupid Technicians or they are compensating on each part they replace. The way the dealership is hiring people is stupid. They prefer to hire people with long time experience that has no basic understanding how modern vehicles work.

You will be more upset because you only need a wirebrush or sandpaper to fix it. Scrub or sand the metal terminal to remove corrosion in your battery & starter connectors including the starter relay(mounted on the firewall).

If the starter stud is brass you need a brass nut. Using a different type of metal like stainless steel will produce corrosion between them.

If you have a lot of aftermarket installed you need to upgrade to a bigger Negative cable to prevent electricity from damaging your water pump impeller.

billiards101

Hey, I think the guys here so far are right on the money...starters usually (but not always)give you some heads up that they are getting old and weak and are gonna need some attention. I'm assuming it didn't give you any other trouble before that first time when the replaced the starter...a lot of the time the big battery cables will corrode back inside the plastic where you can't see it at all,and just ' t a glance you'd never know it...but with the starter being replaced,and now the same problem again your right to start to question if the dealership fixed the problem or just assumed that was the problem and replaced the starter instead of checking voltage at the starter...I know the way it used to be with Ford starters was 'that they needed twelve volts for the magnetic switch to work and engage the starter....the corrosion is holding up the voltage you need for that to happen...corrosion is the enemy for sure... can you return to the scene if the crime (the dealership) and voice your concerns about them possibly replacing the wrong thing costing you money you shouldn't have had to spend,and feel like they will make it right with you...? I sure hope so. Good luck to you sir,I hope things turn out ok for you and quickly as well......I appreciate you you reading this and or, do something about clone

w0lvez

My Starter is already 16 Years Old, before I replaced the battery few months ago. I taught my starter is going bad because it sounds like it barely made the engine start. But after replacing the battery, it spins back to normal again. I also check the voltage reading and its still 4.9 to 5.0 volts.

You better Read some TSB...

Steve@Tasca

Most often they'll just test for power at the starter and check the battery terminals, it's not at all common for them to check the battery cables for resistance.

In the majority of cases if there's power at the starter but it won't crank it's a bad starter but once in a while a bad cable will catch a tech out.

A bad cable will still show 12 volts at the starter but due to the corrosion it can't flow enough amperage to crank the engine, it's like running water through a mostly clogged pipe. You'll still get water out the other end but not the same volume you'd get with an unclogged pipe.

-Steve

biker55

well, spoke to service rep. who kept saying that his techs. checked the starter by tapping on it. I would think that the dealerships would have something a little more high tech than that! but the dealer said to bring it in and they'll go from there. he did mention that the techs. said the neg. battery cable needed replacing. I crawled underneath the veh. and found the neg. cable and stripped off the insulation and there was so much green stuff on the wires that it was just falling out and some of the strands were broken. I'm a shadetree mechanic and I know that can't be good. anyway the veh. is dead again so I will be changing both battery cables for piece of mind and see what happens.

w0lvez

30 Years Mechanic can only fix old vehicles w/o computer. You can't Teach an Old Dog a New Trick

Since there was an Obvious sign of Corrosion & broken Cable Strands, from the beginning its very OBVIOUS that the problem is the Cable. A brocken Strands alone can cause excessive resistance. It's STUPID to replace the Starter without Replacing the Cable FIRST. They should be called Installer not Tech.

I doubt that they even tried to test it. Like what I said before the Dealer is full of incompetent people who can't follow a simple procedure.

0 Voltage Drop = 0 Resistance

You only need to test for Voltage Drop. With the Fuel & Ignition System Disabled. With Multimeter Positive Test Lead Connected to Starter Housing and Negative test lead to Negative Battery Terminal & engage the starter. If Voltage Drop is above 0.2 Volts, there is excessive Resistance @ Negative Cable. But before doing this test the Battery Load & Starter Solenoid should be tested first.

Assuming the Starter Failed due to Bad Ground Cable replacing it without knowing why it failed will caused a repeat failure or another component failure like the Alternator.