Long story short. Everything in the engine bay is brand new. Cables, engine, trans, ect. But recently just got a odd issue. The starter solenoid clicks once.

Turn the key, clicks once....and that's it. Turn key back to off and back on it starts just fine. This is at random times. Mostly after it sits for a while.

I put everything new about 3k miles ago (since this engine build) But that doesn't mean something isn't wrong as it just started ~300 miles ago

New cables: Starter relay cable to starter, positive battery to starter, ground to engine block and frame, starter, starter solenoid, and battery.

It seems like its a bad ground but I checked the cables and everything seem solid. Not sure what else to test. Any ideas?

 

Take a D.C. voltmeter, place one probe on one of the battery terminal's center post (of the batter), the other on the outer part of the terminal somewhere, then while holding the leads in that position, have someone turn the key to "ON", and start. Do this for BOTH terminals.


I have seen corrosion on battery posts cause exactly the intermittent symptoms you have. If while doing this, you read ANY VOLTAGE AT ALL, there is a bad connection occurring. If so, remove terminals, take a strip of sandpaper, and sand the posts nice & clean. Since you said terminals were replaced, I would not expect them to be the culprit, but look at the inner surfaces of them where they wrap around the posts; should be clean and bright metal visible. imp

 

Yep ^^ just fixed this exact problem on a buddy's car, his terminal was loose, and my sisters car, hers was corroded. Easy fixes are great, hopefully this is your issue

 

Did you try turning it off and back on again?

Oh wait.....

 

Oddly enough that what makes it work. :p

I went ahead and cleaned the grounds this morning anyway, But right after that it did it again. But slightly different this time.

Turn the key, clicks (a second later) starts. So now its a delayed start.

 

Load test the battery yet?

 

Just for fun, try putting your old solenoid back on and see what happens. If that doesn't work you could try the solenoid on the starter. Not all new or rebuilt parts work the way they should. Even new cables can have a poor connection. Check all the grounds from the motor and frame to the body. After that ? -maybe the start switch on the column is bad (that's the white plastic part on top of the column with a big plug and lots of wires), but I'd suspect something you just did first.

 

I was thinking about this.

My old Solenoid went bad so I no longer have it. The start switch is possible but I figured since I heard the relay click it wouldn't be that. I know I have the old one somewhere.

When I had this truck part I pulled every inch of the wires out cleaned them and check for weak spots. replace a few spots were it was going to be an issue. Anything related to the starter, battery and alternator the wires got replaced.

And I know that not all new parts work perfect out of the box. since most of it is China now days

I will keep all these suggestions to test with tonight.