Truck is not starting (again). A few weeks back I had a problem that required me to change the starter relay. Its was fine and started great for several weeks.

A week or so ago, it developeda new problem starting. The starter would start to turn over and then stop. The relay would continue to click loudly until I stopped turning the key. Now the starter won't even turn over at all.

I changed the starter thinking that was it and am now wondering if I got a bad starter from Autozone. Battery has 12.8 volts, 12.8 volts to the relay, 12.7 volts to the starter. Ground is connectedsolid to the starter. Control wire from relay to the starter has .6 ohms of resistance so its good.

Whats the problem??

 

Take your battery to Auto Zone and have it checked. It could be getting weak. It may read 12V but not with a load on it. But you could also have a bad battery cable. Just a few ideas to try. Hope it helps.

 

I thought of the cables which is why I checked voltage at the starter and the continuity of the control wire. Also, I turned the key on and the voltage dropped to 9.7 volts across the battery and I still got 9.7 at the starter. The manul says anything above 9.0 volts is good for cranking.

 

Update . . . it looks to be the battery. Although reading high staticly, under load the 9.7 volts is not enough to crank the starter. Talking to an auto shop, they said 10.3 is needed. I checked by putting the battery charger setting on jump start to give the battery an extra boost and the truck started. It looks like I need a new battery.