L60Boerne wrote:Thanks Plateaucal,
Three more clues are;
a). it clicks when you push the starter
b). It can be pull started
c). The battery is charged and the wiring was really hot leading to the fuse box. I asked #2 which wire was hot and where it came/went and did not get a straight answer.
Regardless of all this the starter was dragging really bad when I pushed the starter button. That needs to be fixed at some point as well.
a) means the solenoid is probably working fine
b) means the ignition system is ok
c) goes hand in hand with the blown "add on" wire
Heat is the power by-product of resistance to current flow. Power either: 1) makes the starter work, or 2) gets lost as heat energy.
the dragging starter also goes with C, and tells me you have a high resistance issue in the system- Plateaucal has covered all the bases inside the starter itself, except one: The main shaft has to be able to spin freely within the case bearings. I have "resurrected" many slow turning, high effort starters through the years with little more than a couple strategic squirts of wd40 on both ends of the main shaft, and on the jump gear. If all the moving parts in the starter can move freely and easily, then they will require less power/current from the battery to do their job.
also, make sure the starter is properly grounded- There should be a fat ground wire going from the solenoid to the starter housing, and a second ground strap or wire going from the starter housing, to a cleaned off spot on the truck's frame. DON'T rely on the starter's mounting bolts to provide adequate ground- give the starter coils a free path to the negative battery cable via the truck's frame
lastly - check the condition of the positive battery cable itself, and the connectors at both ends. Did the positive cable also get hot when you tried to crank it?
this "add on wire" might be a jumper that is bypassing the starter relay from the starter button, which would be BAD, because the starter button is not supposed to handle the full amperage necessary to engage the solenoid plunger- That's what the relay is there for.
Starter wiring is the 2nd most complicated circuit on these old trucks (turn signals are number 1 ) - The starter system is a sequence of cascading switches: key energizes starter button, starter button energizes the "weak side" of the starter relay, so that the "strong side" of the starter relay can supply battery voltage to the starter solenoid, until starter solenoid snaps shut making the *click" that you hear, which provides full, unencumbered battery cranking amperage directly to the starter motor (assuming the other side of the motor coils are properly grounded back to the negative)
When it's all working, nothing should get hot, and that electric motor should be able to turn the engine until either a spark plug fires, or the battery runs out of juice.