Girth
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2023
- Posts
- 100
- Reaction score
- 285
- Location
- Olympia WA
- First Name
- Garth
- Truck Year
- 1989
- Truck Model
- V2500 Suburban
- Engine Size
- 350
1984 C10 6.2 with a 700R4.
Newish to me truck almost left me waiting on a tow truck at work tonight. Still working through it, so haven't spent much time under it, but thinking I might have a starter issue. Never had one do this.
It'd catch and crank, for maybe 1 second.... then drop out. A couple times it wouldn't catch, you'd just hear the starter spin. It's done that "spin/not engage" thing before, intermittently, just enough to be slightly annoying. She's cranky when cold, so of course the first couple times it DID keep turning the engine over, it wouldn't light, or would light and I would let off the pedal like an idiot and it'd die. (glow plugs are on a manual switch, and theres another switch for high idle?) After about 15 attempts, at least 10 of which it would catch but drop out almost immediately..... finally cranked, fired up and got me home.
Weak solenoid maybe? I need to get under there and run through the wiring first. Lotta oil on things. I crawled under the truck at work to just make sure the starter wasn't loose. Seemed solid as can be. There are different styles of starter too? The brace/bracket is in the glove box, but this one looks to be the slightly shorter case, so maybe doesn't use it? Is there one type of starter that's favored, or one to avoid?
Batteries were new this last weekend. Cleaned the cables/connections before I hooked them up, first thing I checked tonight (yep, still tight) and it obviously had enough juice for all those start attempts. Wires/cables on the other end could be nasty of course.... haven't gotten there yet. Previous owner replaced the transmission.... so I figure I better make sure all that is still tight, and peek at the flex plate.
Any ideas, advice, words of wisdom?
Newish to me truck almost left me waiting on a tow truck at work tonight. Still working through it, so haven't spent much time under it, but thinking I might have a starter issue. Never had one do this.
It'd catch and crank, for maybe 1 second.... then drop out. A couple times it wouldn't catch, you'd just hear the starter spin. It's done that "spin/not engage" thing before, intermittently, just enough to be slightly annoying. She's cranky when cold, so of course the first couple times it DID keep turning the engine over, it wouldn't light, or would light and I would let off the pedal like an idiot and it'd die. (glow plugs are on a manual switch, and theres another switch for high idle?) After about 15 attempts, at least 10 of which it would catch but drop out almost immediately..... finally cranked, fired up and got me home.
Weak solenoid maybe? I need to get under there and run through the wiring first. Lotta oil on things. I crawled under the truck at work to just make sure the starter wasn't loose. Seemed solid as can be. There are different styles of starter too? The brace/bracket is in the glove box, but this one looks to be the slightly shorter case, so maybe doesn't use it? Is there one type of starter that's favored, or one to avoid?
Batteries were new this last weekend. Cleaned the cables/connections before I hooked them up, first thing I checked tonight (yep, still tight) and it obviously had enough juice for all those start attempts. Wires/cables on the other end could be nasty of course.... haven't gotten there yet. Previous owner replaced the transmission.... so I figure I better make sure all that is still tight, and peek at the flex plate.
Any ideas, advice, words of wisdom?