No start blues

[Stepside Billy]

Nope.

[blazer74]

Try jumping the solenoid bypassing the starting circuit to see if it will turn over?
Battery, 2 cables and the starter.
 

[Irish_Alley]

how many grounds do you have. i know you said you cleaned the one on the block but what about the one on the alt bracket? you should have the alt bracket then another from the body to the back of the head then a few more for the frame and front clip

[AZ4X4SQBDY]

Starter less than a year old. Got it from Autozone. Bench tested ok but it was not under any kind of load.

I'm a little unclear, is the starter a year old or did you just replace it again with a different starter and have the same issue?

What is the voltage at the battery when trying to crank, also check it using the engine as the ground and see how big of a difference there is.

If you have 10.2 or better when cranking slow, my money is on the windings have shorted inside the starter creating a less powerful magnet when energized. This would allow it to crank slow but bench test ok.

Another thing, if the cable or connections ever turned blue as a result of overheating the cables, change them out, they will not pass the amps the same as copper colored ones, they turn into a point of resistance.

[Stepside Billy]

I have the negative ground from the battery to the alt bracket and to the firewall which are new. I have the ground from the engine to the firewall, and the ground from the frame to the body. All are good. AZ4X4SQBDY I did get another starter yesterday but I still have the same problem. It cranks over slow like the battery is very weak but everything is new and charged. All replaced within the last 3 days.

[AZ4X4SQBDY]

Ok......

I would still like to see what the battery volts are when cranking. Does trying to jump start it make it crank faster?

When you say it cranks slow, is it a steady slow crank or does it crank, stop, crank, stop like it has too much initial timing?

[Stepside Billy]

I had a battery charger on it and it didn't help. It cranks slow, stops and cranks slow again. Timing was good when I checked it before it died. Jump starting made no difference.

[VileZambonie]

What is the voltage at the battery while cranking? Did you check to make sure your alternator is not seized up?

[jrbarrie83]

I had a battery charger on it and it didn't help. It cranks slow, stops and cranks slow again. Timing was good when I checked it before it died. Jump starting made no difference.

This still makes me think it might have something to do with the timing. It really can't hurt, and is such an easy thing to check. Loosen the distributor hold-down bolt and turn it slightly in whichever direction you need to retard the timing. You may need to try several different positions, but at least you will have eliminated this as a possibility. I know how frustrating it was for me, and how I could not wrap my head around how much timing affected cranking. It may not be your issue, but what can it hurt to try?

[Stepside Billy]

That's the thing. When I had it running I checked the timing and it was good, set to stock specs. Turned the truck off and it hasn't started since. And that's with replacing everything.

[boulky12]

Since, according to the mark on my balancer, my timing was correct, I refused to believe this was the problem. I finally gave up and played around with the distributor position a bit, and lo and behold, it was a timing issue. Apparently the ring on the balancer can slip. This has happened in my car and truck. Neither mark shows the correct timing.

[Stepside Billy]

Truck had been starting with no problems before all this went down.

[80Chevy4x4]

best thing i could suggest is to start eliminating everything....start with removing # 1 spark and get piston to top dead center and then see where your mark is on the balancer and where the rotor is pointing.....if rotor is pointing to number one or six then the timing is right and then go to electrical.....we all can't guess what it can be put to be able to help better we need a lot of input. 

[AZ4X4SQBDY]

If trying to jump start it and hooking a battery charger to it did not change the way it cranked it's time to look elsewhere. As others have mentioned, loosen the belts and make sure none of the accessories are seized.

 I personally had a 92 Sonoma SLE 4x4 that the alternator seized while I was driving, just out of the blue, with no noise. The starter would only click, because the truck was running excellent before it happened I doubted the motor went and the first thing I did while waiting for the flat bed was pull the belt, low and behold, it fired right up.

Place a mark so you know where the original position of the distributor was and try jumping it forward and back a little bit to see it it's in the timing.

[blazer74]

How about just disconnecting the power to the distributer and see if it turns over normal. That will eliminate the timing.