Help, 96 Kingcab 2/W pickup, Wont start, does nothing.

Automatic, 4/cyl.

After I type this I'm heading out to remove the RF wheel to get a better look at the starter.

Last night I left my inside dome light on. This morning I had to jump start it. No problem, started right up. Drove about a mile to the store and shut it off. (should have driven it more I know) Came out of store and it turned over very slowly a couple of cranks and stopped. Never heard any clicking. waited, tried again, nothing. Very nice people coming out of home depot. 4-5 offered to help. tried jumping with no luck, no clicking, no sound at all. Tried another guys cables, same thing. checked fuses, all look good. (buy drivers left shin theres a panel. are ther others?) Tried tapping the starter with a hammer and they said it started to catch with each tap? I couldnt hear that well as I was turning the key. Had the car towed home and put a charger on the battery (2-3 year old die hard silver) for four hours. Car still does nothing when I turn the key.

Consensus from the crown that gathered while still in the parking lot was it was the starter/solinoid.

I finally located the starter. I'm hoping it will be easier to get at with the wheel off. Then I'll check the connections.

ADVICE ON HOW TO TEST FOR CURRENT TO THE STARTER would be appreciated. I know the general Idea, but not something I do often.

ADVICE ON TESTING/REMOVING THE STARTER?

Hell, I'd appreciate any advice (reguaringmy starter problem)

TIA

Steve

Reply to
steve
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Well, I can see the starter but how do you get at it? I'm thinking of cutting a section of the body inside the wheel well to be able to get my hand in there. Removing this 3 inch section of metel will allow access. I can cover the area later.

Cant see how else I'm going to get at it?

How can I test the starter? Dont want to remove if its not the problem.

Steve

Reply to
steve

before you yank the starter, try this. since you've charged the battery, the voltage should be reading (with a volt meter) anywhere between 12.4V to

12.8V without load (have dome lights turned off when checking). if you can, leave the volt meter leads connected to the battery and place the meter in a position where you can view the reading from the drivers seat. now try to start the engine and read what how far the voltage drops. if the volt meter reading drops to 0 or less than 6 volts, chances are your battery is shot and can't handle the starting load. 20 years ago, I worked for Sears and saw many batteries fail with in 2 to 3 years, especially the Diehard line. most failed because they no longer could handle the starting load. in many cases, when a battery can't handle the starting load, attempts using jumper cables fail to work. I remember having to install many replacement batteries in the parking lot fronting the shop just to drive the car in for testing and wouldn't you know it, usually nothing was wrong other than a battery that couldn't handle the starting load. you may want to pull the battery and take it back to Sears to have it checked out before taking other steps. hope this helps.
Reply to
: )

A 3 year old Die Hard that was discharged then jumped has a good chance of an easy death. You better have that battery tested or swap it out for a known good battery before you go yanking the starter.

I've had maybe 3 Die Hard batteries take a dump on me for no reason. And they couldn't be jump started.

Reply to
Meat-->Plow

I've had similar experiences with Die Hard batteries. Better name might be "Die Dead" or "Die Without Warning".

If your battery has totally died, the starter will try to draw all the current it needs through the jumper cables. Unless you have good ones (at least 6 gauge wire, 4 is better), it won't be able to draw enough current to start the car.

I agree with Meat, your symptoms sound more like a bad battery than a starter.

Reply to
E. Meyer

Thanks for you replys.

New starter cranks much stronger/faster?

Would that have been a sign of a deteriorating starter? Slower/weaker cranking.

Steve

Reply to
steve

What did it for me was when the guy behind the parts counter at Autozone took one Die Hard Gold back and didn't even blink an eyelash. I told him that I wanted my money back, pro-rated to the 4 months I had the battery in service. I traded it in on their Duralast store brand and that batter lasted 6 years at least since it was in the truck when I sold it.

Reply to
Meat-->Plow

It was one hell of a coincidence that the started decided to go belly up right after you charged your batter because of a dome light rundown.

Reply to
Meat-->Plow

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