Just bought a 1995 GMC C1500

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HotRodPC

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When I took the starter to the parts store, they tested it 3 times, and it passed 3 times. I was watching them do it, it was zero load test. they just hooked it up to 12v power, and a remote switch. the solenoid would engage, push the gear up, and spin. Hell, I did that at home with jumper cables and a screwdriver. But I thought the store;s machine might have tested it under load. Nope!
Anyway, I found a parts yard that has one for $40, with a money back guarantee. I'm just gonna get it to have piece of mind that it actually is the starter. If it cranks this bitch, Ill order a new one, If not, Ill have to look elsewhere for the solution to the no crank problem.

Yep, I'm sure you've got a bad starter then. You'd think you'd at least hear a click of the solenoid trying to engage the bendix.

And you have turned this engine over right? You know it's not a seized engine?

I guess $40 is worth the labor swapping starters if you had a buddy with a 95 and up 350. Trucks went away from 350's with the new body style but Vans kept the 350 for a few more years. I was going to suggest borrowing a known good starter from someone else truck or van. So yep, $40 for a good used one with warranty is not a bad deal. Just do it. I wanna see that you got this bitch running. I have a feeling it's going to be a good truck.
 

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Yep, I'm sure you've got a bad starter then. You'd think you'd at least hear a click of the solenoid trying to engage the bendix.

And you have turned this engine over right? You know it's not a seized engine?

I guess $40 is worth the labor swapping starters if you had a buddy with a 95 and up 350. Trucks went away from 350's with the new body style but Vans kept the 350 for a few more years. I was going to suggest borrowing a known good starter from someone else truck or van. So yep, $40 for a good used one with warranty is not a bad deal. Just do it. I wanna see that you got this bitch running. I have a feeling it's going to be a good truck.

The battery is brand new, fully charged, and I've manually turned the engine twice, so I know for a fact that this bitch ain't seized. I just want it to crank, so I can blow anything that might be in there out the plug holes. I also went ahead and ordered that endoscope camera for my android phone to look inside the cylinders, just to have piece of mind. Ill tell you though, for some reason, I have become obsessed with this ****! I gotta do this, this ****** has got to run, or give me some kind of closure.
 

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Exactly !!! It's one of those things, you just have to know. I'd be losing sleep over it until I at least knew. Something is just telling me though, you've got a good deal on what's going to be a good running truck with a little bit of work and maintenance.
 

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I was using the battery as an example of being required to have a load for proper testing as a starter should. I wasn't questioning your battery. But a full charge is 12.6v each cell should be at 2.1 volts.
 

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Just curious, and maybe you said already, but I'm helping 2 or 3 different people with starter issues, so I might be getting you mixed up one of them, but have you tried to cross the solenoid yet with either a jumper wire or screwdriver to bypass all the ignition wires?

Many times you can do this and get an ailing starter to kick since there is no voltage drop through the hanress and ignition switch and all the voltage is being used by the starter.
 

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Just curious, and maybe you said already, but I'm helping 2 or 3 different people with starter issues, so I might be getting you mixed up one of them, but have you tried to cross the solenoid yet with either a jumper wire or screwdriver to bypass all the ignition wires?

Many times you can do this and get an ailing starter to kick since there is no voltage drop through the hanress and ignition switch and all the voltage is being used by the starter.

Yup, I did that when I got back from testing it at the parts store, reinstalled it, it turned the engine like a 1/4 turn and then click, click, click. Then I crawled under and jumped it with a piece of 12awg electrical wire, and click, click , click.
 

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Yup, I did that when I got back from testing it at the parts store, reinstalled it, it turned the engine like a 1/4 turn and then click, click, click. Then I crawled under and jumped it with a piece of 12awg electrical wire, and click, click , click.

OK, that pretty much determines without a doubt, the starter is bad. You're 100% certain the battery is good, you're 100% certain the engine isn't seized and turns freely, so by jumping the solenoid, you've bypassed the ignition switch and all wiring to the starter so if it was something between ignition switch and solenoid wiring, then it would have cranked and cranked with a jumper on the solenoid bypassing anything else that could have been the problem. By process of eliminating everything else, the starter is BAD !!! :cheers:
 

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By the way, I got a question. I was looking at the starters on Rockauto, and I'm asking myself, why are the new starters with no core required, less expensive than the reman starters that require a core?
 

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Probably due to name brands. Like AC Delco, Bosch, Delphi and famous name brands like that are going to cost more that some China brand company like ProForm brand or something like that. You can probably get a NEW China manufactured starter cheaper than an AC Delco remanufactured starter.
 

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I see what you're saying now. That has to be all in marketing and profit margin. That NEW AC Delco for $100.XX is $17 cheaper than the AC Delco Reman. Not sure if you're aware, RockAuto is also one of our Preferred Vendors here on GMSB and they usually have a current 5% discount code posted for us to use. I'd probably go that NEW AC DELCO for $101 unless you know the history on those other brands that are $76 or so for the new.
 

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Here is the current Rock Auto Discount Code that is found in a Sticky in the Rock Auto Section of Preferred Vendors.

5% Discount Code: 55F985FE375AF1
Expires: June 20, 2017

Please enter this code in the ‘How Did You Hear about Us’ box to receive discount. Please enter ONLY the discount code, no other words or numbers. Please note that orders using discount codes must be placed online and the discount code must be entered before an order is submitted to receive the discount.
 

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Here is the current Rock Auto Discount Code that is found in a Sticky in the Rock Auto Section of Preferred Vendors.

5% Discount Code: 55F985FE375AF1
Expires: June 20, 2017

Please enter this code in the ‘How Did You Hear about Us’ box to receive discount. Please enter ONLY the discount code, no other words or numbers. Please note that orders using discount codes must be placed online and the discount code must be entered before an order is submitted to receive the discount.
Righteous! Thanks HotRod. I just got my android camera in the mail, gonna go stick it inside the plug holes, and hope there's not a dead Mouse or something in the cylinders .
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By the way, I got a question. I was looking at the starters on Rockauto, and I'm asking myself, why are the new starters with no core required, less expensive than the reman starters that require a core?

I read a few good results with DB electric starters here. I bought one for the LS swap, haven't tried it yet though. It was $55 on amazon shipped free with no core.

Take that back, it wasn't DB electrical the reviews were about, thats what I ended up with. Search high torque starter here in the forums. There's a link somewhere for them for ~$50
 
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1987 GMC Jimmy

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Righteous! Thanks HotRod. I just got my android camera in the mail, gonna go stick it inside the plug holes, and hope there's not a dead Mouse or something in the cylinders .
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Ahh, well it came with three gifts. Mouse or no mouse you've already come out on top.
 

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Ahh, well it came with three gifts. Mouse or no mouse you've already come out on top.

Yeah man, thanks for the advice on the camera. This thing is badass. If you take a still shot, it's kinda grainy, buy on the phone it's better quality. Here's some pics that I took of cylinders 1 and 3.
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