Starting issue

[spanky55amg]

Truck ran fine Friday. Got me home with zero issue.

Saturday, go to start and acts like dead battery. Jump it with another vehicle. It takes awhile to start, but I figured the cheap 1yr warranted battery the PO put in was door nail dead.

Replaced the battery. Still kinda hard starting but figured it was maybe the battery sat in the shelf and needed a good charge.

Test drive, ran fine.

Stopped for one second and cut the engine... wouldn’t start. Felt like dead battery. Ok, maybe it’s the starter.

Replaced the starter.
Shimmed. It grinds like it wants to turn the flexplate but doesn’t ever start. Well. I thought that I had it shimmed wrong. I’ve spent 6 hours shimming and I still can’t get it to kick over. Kinda feels like the engine is locked up but it’s totally not. Like I said, if I can get it to start, it runs fine.

Flex plate looks solid. No cracks. All the teeth are there.

Checked ohms and battery to starter, to junction block, to alternator are all under 1.0 ohms and most of them are 0.4 or under. Checked my grounds. Same thing. Checked battery voltage. 12.4. Checked to the big post on the starter and alternator and junction block. All reading 12.4.

I’m stuck. What else can cause this to hard turn the flex plate and sound/feel like battery voltage is low. Starter clicks and grinds/turns like low voltage.

I rewired everything this past winter. I’m running 2 gauge battery cables. 6 gauge to the junction block. Grounds are all 2 gauge.

I’ve tried to put it in neutral and does the same thing.

Could an ignition switch cause this? I know that seems weird to ask, but I’m out of ideas and it seems like that’s been a little weird lately. I’m tired of swapping parts.

 

[Frankenchevy]

Did you check the purple(I think?) wire to solenoid?

 

[spanky55amg]

That’s about the only thing I didn’t check. That said, I know that I visually inspected it. And since I rewired the engine bay, I know it’s good.

But that doesn’t mean I’m getting 12 volts when the key is turned to ran. That’s the only other thing I could think of but didn’t think that would create a “low battery voltage” feel. Plus it was instantaneous.

I’ll check tomorrow evening and make sure.

 

[C10MixMaster]

Truck ran fine Friday. Got me home with zero issue.

Saturday, go to start and acts like dead battery. Jump it with another vehicle. It takes awhile to start, but I figured the cheap 1yr warranted battery the PO put in was door nail dead.

Replaced the battery. Still kinda hard starting but figured it was maybe the battery sat in the shelf and needed a good charge.

Test drive, ran fine.

Stopped for one second and cut the engine... wouldn’t start. Felt like dead battery. Ok, maybe it’s the starter.

Replaced the starter.
Shimmed. It grinds like it wants to turn the flexplate but doesn’t ever start. Well. I thought that I had it shimmed wrong. I’ve spent 6 hours shimming and I still can’t get it to kick over. Kinda feels like the engine is locked up but it’s totally not. Like I said, if I can get it to start, it runs fine.

Flex plate looks solid. No cracks. All the teeth are there.

Checked ohms and battery to starter, to junction block, to alternator are all under 1.0 ohms and most of them are 0.4 or under. Checked my grounds. Same thing. Checked battery voltage. 12.4. Checked to the big post on the starter and alternator and junction block. All reading 12.4.

I’m stuck. What else can cause this to hard turn the flex plate and sound/feel like battery voltage is low. Starter clicks and grinds/turns like low voltage.

I rewired everything this past winter. I’m running 2 gauge battery cables. 6 gauge to the junction block. Grounds are all 2 gauge.

I’ve tried to put it in neutral and does the same thing.

Could an ignition switch cause this? I know that seems weird to ask, but I’m out of ideas and it seems like that’s been a little weird lately. I’m tired of swapping parts.

Checking ohms is good but doesn't show conditions under load. To test these circuits use a volt meter, put one lead on the battery + post on the lead part, put the other lead on the starter terminal lug. Have an assistant crank the truck. It should show little to no voltage, less than .1 volts. repeat this test connect test lead to the engine block and other lead to the lead part of the - post on the battery. Again you should see less than .1 volts. Then test from the + batt terminal to the start post on the solenoid. this may show a little higher voltage but should be less than 1 volt. A bad wire or circuit will usually show full batt voltage when it fails these tests.

as far as the starter grinding. if it didn't grind before being replaced and you shimmed it rite, possibly a bad starter . remands a notoriously problematic. if it is a flywheel , the engine always stops i 1 of 4 spots, turn the engine by hand just a little bit and you will be into a part of the flywheel that doesn't get chewed on. then is will start.

 

[spanky55amg]

Checking ohms is good but doesn't show conditions under load. To test these circuits use a volt meter, put one lead on the battery + post on the lead part, put the other lead on the starter terminal lug. Have an assistant crank the truck. It should show little to no voltage, less than .1 volts. repeat this test connect test lead to the engine block and other lead to the lead part of the - post on the battery. Again you should see less than .1 volts. Then test from the + batt terminal to the start post on the solenoid. this may show a little higher voltage but should be less than 1 volt. A bad wire or circuit will usually show full batt voltage when it fails these tests.

as far as the starter grinding. if it didn't grind before being replaced and you shimmed it rite, possibly a bad starter . remands a notoriously problematic. if it is a flywheel , the engine always stops i 1 of 4 spots, turn the engine by hand just a little bit and you will be into a part of the flywheel that doesn't get chewed on. then is will start.

That’s the thing. It started out of the blue with old starter. I just woke up the next day and the starter started acting up.

I say grind for the lack of a better word.
It really feels like the starter is struggling and the battery doesn’t have enough voltage.

Also, I rewired everything. It’s been working fine for 8 months and out of the blue, I get this hard to start issue.

 

[C10MixMaster]

That’s the thing. It started out of the blue with old starter. I just woke up the next day and the starter started acting up.

I say grind for the lack of a better word.
It really feels like the starter is struggling and the battery doesn’t have enough voltage.

Also, I rewired everything. It’s been working fine for 8 months and out of the blue, I get this hard to start issue.

well out of the blue something changed . The voltage load test will confirm the wiring is good. 2 gauge wires should be perfect for your truck. Another thing is to verify is your ground is to the engine not the frame.

 

[spanky55amg]

I have a ground to the frame and to the engine. They are in series and I tested the complete circuit and the sections of the circuit.

Im going to the wiring diagram again. Just seems weird that something just gave up the ghost.

 

[spanky55amg]

So if I read the wiring diag correctly, the only thing inline with this is the neutral safety switch and then the ignition switch.

Can I jump the NSS safely? I should be able to, correct? Its just a switch to make sure its park or reverse for the backup lamps.

 

[C10MixMaster]

So if I read the wiring diag correctly, the only thing inline with this is the neutral safety switch and then the ignition switch.

Can I jump the NSS safely? I should be able to, correct? Its just a switch to make sure its park or reverse for the backup lamps.

yes you can jump the neutral safety switch for testing. you can also bypass the start circuit and jumper from the solenoid start lead to the batt+

 

[WarlVlachine]

yes you can jump the neutral safety switch for testing. you can also bypass the start circuit and jumper from the solenoid start lead to the batt+

What part of the ignition process does the NSS interrupt exactly? Does it prevent the starter from actuating?

 

[Frankenchevy]

What part of the ignition process does the NSS interrupt exactly? Does it prevent the starter from actuating?

Yeah, if it just killed power to the coil you’d still be able to bump the starter over in gear.

 

[C10MixMaster]

What part of the ignition process does the NSS interrupt exactly? Does it prevent the starter from actuating?

Battery===Ignition switch===NSS===Starter Solenoid.

Unless your in neutral or park the NSS prevent current from flowing to the starter.

 

[spanky55amg]

So I have been busy as ****, but here is the end of this...
I dont know which ground. All the wires tested fine. I made sure all the crimps were good. cleaned the block ground, frame ground, and radiator support ground (they are all in series), and fired right up.
Nothing looks bad. WTF ever.