Truck will not start. Turn the ignition switch and nothing. Have power to everything else. New starter, batteries, no codes checked fuses, changed starter relay in PDC. Happened last week and had the starter retested and put it back in and it started right up! I have gremlins. Looking for suggestions. Thanks!

Is the starter solenoid getting 12v when you turn the key to crank?  

 

How about jumping your nuetral safety switch?

 

 

I would start there and work backwards to find where the issue is.

Edited March 27, 20178 yr by Me78569

I put in a new switch and am getting 12 v at the solenoid. no luck.

If your starter solenoid is getting 12v when you hit the key to crank then the started is bad. 

Took the starter out, tested it, it was fine, put it back in and it started. Same thing as last time. I will have to wait till it happens again and check wires again.

Dead spot in motor or bad ground maybe?  I know you said new starter at the beginning of the post but, is that new or refurbished/rebuilt?

 you may have a lose solder connection on the solenoid

Load test the starter signal wire. 

Waiting for it to go down again, so I can do further testing. Thanks for the replies.

Signal contact on reman'd starters....man i went through 4 of em in a week cause they werent tight.

Mine bench tested good but put em in and nope no start. Batteries were good and brand new group 31's.  Ended up being the signal contact was loose so when the starter was installed it did the jiggley woo. . Check on that.. it cost me a tow, $385 in labour, and $500 for a brand new starter. Oh and a week with out wheels.

Well, here it is 15 days later and the truck did it again. Been fine in the mean time. 5 or 6 start ups per day. This time, I left the truck where it stopped at. It sat for about 4 hours. Never took the starter out. Took the battery cables off and put them back on after the 4 hours. Started right up! Got home and turned it off and started it back up 2x.

 

It's like something is getting hot and then after it cools down it starts. Just doesn't make any sense that it took so long to do it again. Any thoughts?

Nuetral safety switch?  or whatever the autos use to tell if the truck is in gear or not when you crank.

Replaced that already.

My truck's shifter linkage bushing was worn causing the truck to not go fully into park.  how are yours?

Quote

 

Haven't checked. I have tried starting while moving the shifter around, thinking this sort of thing. Didn't make a difference.

Try this, connect a 14-12 gauge wire to the starter solenoid terminal that the brown wire from the starter motor relay attaches.  Place an alligator clip to the other end of the wire and the wire should reach the battery.  Keep the alligator clip isolated from grounding or power, I usually attach the clip to a piece of plastic near the battery. 

 

The next time the starter will not work touch the alligator clip to the positive post on the battery and see what happens.  This bypasses the ignition switch, starter inhibitor switch, starter relay, and all the related wiring.  If the starter works then your problem is up stream and I'd check the relay next.  If it doesn't work then you have a bad starter.  

This should help...

14 hours ago, IBMobile said:

Try this, connect a 14-12 gauge wire to the starter solenoid terminal that the brown wire from the starter motor relay attaches.  Place an alligator clip to the other end of the wire and the wire should reach the battery.  Keep the alligator clip isolated from grounding or power, I usually attach the clip to a piece of plastic near the battery. 

 

The next time the starter will not work touch the alligator clip to the positive post on the battery and see what happens.  This bypasses the ignition switch, starter inhibitor switch, starter relay, and all the related wiring.  If the starter works then your problem is up stream and I'd check the relay next.  If it doesn't work then you have a bad starter.  

Thanks! Got it wired. Now I will wait till the next time!

 

6 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

This should help...

Thanks. Will use this depending on IBM's post.

Well, it happened again! Used IBM's wire and the starter did not engage. 30 miles from home. Lucky my son was one mile away on a service call. Pulled the starter and put a new one in. Life is good again! Didn't really want to throw money at the problem in the hopes of fixing it. Thanks for the replies!

I bet the brushes worn out r the contacts.

I just replaced the contacts in my starter.  With 120K on the odometer the contacts were worn through.  I bought the kit from LarryB's and I bought a set of replacement brushes as well.  The brushes in the starter looked great so I opted not to change those.  The contacts were super easy and I am hoping for another 100k out of the starter.