Did my starter short out?

[slammed79]

This goes back to Thursday morning. I went to start my truck to take my roomie to work, it cranked once and died, no power to the cab. After work I traced it and found that the big nut on the back of the starter fell off. I replaced it and the truck fired right
up, cool.

Friday, I went to work, left work at lunch to go to another property and it was still cool, until I stopped at Circle K to get a gatorade. I came back out and it wouldn't start again. It would just click and not start. I had my multimeter with me and checked the battery, it was showing 12.75 volts. I climbed under the truck and found my 10 gauge feed wire was loose in its terminal. I also discovered a couple other shorts in my wiring system. I had a couple friends help me push the truck home Friday night, my apartment is right next to the Circle K.

I fixed all the shorts and bad connections I found in the system put it back together, checked and rechecked all my grounds just to be sure. Still it just clicks. The battery is still showing good, so is it possible the starter solenoid went bad that quick? It hasn't been acting sluggish. I'm beating my head against the wall.

[Jason S]

If you don't want to pull the starter out and have it tested;  check to make sure all the wiring is tight, charge the battery and try it again.   It could be that since everything was loose at the starter, the battery has discharged to the point that it won't turn the engine over.

[slammed79]

I'll get into it again when I get home. I was beat last night and just generally brain fried.

Thanks Jason!

[Smarttravis1511]

I it's just clicking and you have good voltage at battery, starter, and the remote wire for starter the it's the starter. Take you a small hammer and give it a couple good whacks and see if that helps? If it starts better get you a starter cause its bout to be done for btw starters are only like 40 bucks

[slammed79]

Well, still had 12.65 volts at the battery terminals, but 9.4 volts at the starter and the junction block. I pulled the battery and its on the charger. I also discovered the engine harness was never converted to hei, so I need to get that done tomorrow after work. Hopefully that solves this mess.

[Smarttravis1511]

Don't want to sound dumb but what's the distrubution block? Got a bad connection to power or ground sounds to me. But 9 volts won't be enough to engage the starter

[bake74]

Well, still had 12.65 volts at the battery terminals, but 9.4 volts at the starter and the junction block. I pulled the battery and its on the charger. I also discovered the engine harness was never converted to hei, so I need to get that done tomorrow after work. Hopefully that solves this mess.

Don't want to sound dumb but what's the distrubution block? Got a bad connection to power or ground sounds to me. But 9 volts won't be enough to engage the starter

     If you have 12.65 V at battery, and only 9.4 V at starter ( is that on the main/big leg from battery or small nut for the solenoid ?), if the small nut for solenoid you are loosing power to the starter system.  As Smarttravis1511 stated, 9.4 is not enough Volts.
     You will have to get your wiring diagram out and trace the battery flow to find out where you are dropping power.  My thought is it might be the key switch, but could also be the terminal block on the firewall, or the fuse block itself between the engine bay/interior. 
      But unless you want to play the guessing game and chance breaking down on a whim whenever the truck feels like it, the right way is find the lose of volts and fix it.

[Jason S]

I it's just clicking and you have good voltage at battery, starter, and the remote wire for starter the it's the starter. Take you a small hammer and give it a couple good whacks and see if that helps? If it starts better get you a starter cause its bout to be done for btw starters are only like 40 bucks

The battery could have over 12 volts, but may not have enough amperage to do more than click the starter solenoid.  If the engine had been running off the battery (because of loose terminals), it is possible the battery is simply drained. 

Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take some fine grit sand paper or emory cloth and clean each and every terminal as you go through them.  Over time, grease and moisture can foul up the connections.

[slammed79]

All said and done, my positive battery cable had pulled out of its terminal. I went and got a cheapo 4ga cable to get me through until I can get hold of my buddy that built my 1ga cables to fix the hot cable.

[Jason S]

To borrow from Bake74:  "#1: The easiest and most obvious solution to any problem is 99% of the time correct."   

I'm glad to read that it isn't anything too difficult. 

[frotosride]

One more solved....man I love this forum.