First major issue with my truck....

That's what happens when you get bamboozled into thinking you should lease a truck from your company with 2 years experience and they feed your ego full of crap and make you believe that you know something about trucking and this is your way to the freedom of being an O/O. As someone else said, they seen him coming from a mile away just like the others.

 

I never saw this thread. It's always easy to have an assistant look at the solenoid connection while you attempt to start it. Preferrably at night. A loose connection will give you a little spark show and is easy to diagnose that way. Vibration over time will back one of them nuts off for the copper thread. A 1/16 of a turn is enough for corrosion to set in and make you sit. Good batteries and no spark, you can assume the solenoid. If the solenoid clicks, you can assume bad brushes on the starter or a bad battery. If your mechanically inclined, rebuilding your own starter is a heck of alot cheaper than buying one. Starter rebuild kits start about $30. It's a simple process of cleaning, changing the brushes, bushings and if necessary, the bendix. Always change the solenoid and starter as a pair as their life is about the same. Solenoids are rebuildable too. Kits are available.

Dead spots CD is when the brushes are worn down to nubs. They usually wear at angle towards the end of their life. That's when the dead spots start. The brushes can be a little ####ed as it's spring loaded. You can bump the engine or tap the top end of the starter with a hammer to get one more start. But at that point you need a starter immediately and should keep er running.

Common problems with batteries is dirt/corrosion builds between the plates causing the battery to short out. If you suspect a bad battery, you can isolate all the batteries by removing all the cables starting with the negatives. You should read a consistant 12.5V on all batteries. A shorted battery will read about 10.5V. You can avoid paying for a load test and and a jacked up priced battery this way. Specific gravity is another method to check batteries, but we won't go there.

I just saved you $200! Oops, too late!

 

Bad plate in a batterie will also cause the HIT / MISS non starting glitch , batterie WARMS Up expands plate shorts , acts like dead batterie.

 

Well there you contradict yourself again, earlier paragraph you said they make no money on the repairs then you allude that it's a rigged game where they want you to come back again and again for the cha-ching.

Of course I hope that's not true and I wish you the best of luck and success in your venture.

 

As a former auto mechanic with 20 + years experience, I'm gonna add my 2 cents, for whatever it's worth. Let's look at the facts:

Dick says that when the problem occurs, there is no action from the starter. However the rest of the electrical still works fine.

Jump starting the truck didn't help.

Jumping the solenoid also didn't work, thus eliminating the solenoid as a problem.

The problem seems to be intermittant.

Based on this information, I would say he problem is the starter itself and needs to be replaced (or rebuilt if possible). To confirm this diagnosis, I would suggest to Dick that the next time this happens, find someone to assist you in turning the key while you tap on the starter with a small hammer. If my theory is correct, just a couple light taps will get it started.

Works everytime in the cars.

 

I was going to comment.... But realized that dicky will get his feelings hurt.... And you don't want to hurt the feelings of a know it all Swift wannabe O/O!

 

The SWIFTER patrol should be along soon to

 

It could also be a starter going bad. One or two sections of the armature starting to open up, causes the same symptoms - and a lot of folks will think its the solenoid or a battery.

Here's the deal... its gonna happen again if this is the case. Pop the hood and tap (not hard!) on the starter motor with a wrench or hammer a few times. It should start up. It'll keep doing this until you can have it happen in front of a service tech, and convince them that it is a starter problem.

 

Do they have any safety switches , ?

belive it or not, I had one do the same thing.

Tilted the steering wheel forward all the way, truck then would start............

weird stuff.................

 

Excellent information from Condo and Dodge.

Thanks, guys.