When it's really cold here I have a hard time starting my '83. It seems like there's a lot of resistance and the starter can barely turn the engine over. I have a new starter and battery. I'm going to change the oil to 0w30 that will help a bit but is there anything else that might be making it hard to turn over?

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Got my starter tested and it was bad and barely worked, picked a new one up. The new starter turned a few times then quit ,now it doesn't work anymore so I'm going to exchange it. I've checked the choke, changed the oil, put a block heater in, new battery, new terminals and power/ground wires, new plugs/wires. Anything I should do/check before I put this starter in? I've got the battery inside warming up/charging right now, truck is plugged in. It seems like maybe there's too much resistance to turn over or something but it runs fine when I could start it and when I pull start it (impossible now everywhere is ice). I'm HOPING that the remaned starter I bought was just a dud because that's happened to me on a different car.

 

0w30 synthetic will help out lots if you dont have an block heater, it did for me. Whats the CCA on your battery? If its a good battery and still has troubles turning over buy a battery blanket warmer and plug that in at night. When i was up in whitehorse battery blankets were a must with block heaters.

 

I don't know the cca on the battery, it isn't near a plug in most of the time there's no room on the street in front of my house. No block heater but I'm going to add an oilpan heater.

 

Put a block heater in today, just plugged it in I'll see how it works in a couple hours.

 

what is the condition and age of the battery?

not sure how cold you get, but mine fired right up in 20 degree weather under 2 feet of snow.

Al

 

are you kidding me .. Sask. and NO block heater ??? gotta be a first!

glad you installed one , it will help .. but seriously plug it in !! + a good oil , starting it and letting it run are the best things in your extreem cold !

 

20 farenheit would be nice here, I'm talking closer to -40 or -50. The battery is brand new.

Yeah the P/O never installed one when he rebuilt it. I had it plugged in for a few hours today and still no start. Now I'm thinking I might have a fuel delivery problem because I have good compression, good spark and I've had it turning over fast. I don't have a garage but I'll put a hoarding around it and get it really hot in there with a propane heater... cheaper than towing it to my parents or another garage and I'm a scaffolder so I can do it in 15 minutes. If it doesn't start when the whole thing is hot I'll replace the carb with a weber. Fuel pump looks new and the filter is fine too so it must be the carb.

 

maybe try some metholhydrate for the fuel system . works great as a fuel additive in the cold weather .. (de-icer)


.

 

I really like my weber in the cold weather, just have to pump the gas once and it starts right up. Havnt had a problem yet with my carb icing up and theres no HAI system. I remember my stocker last year would turn into a icecube when driving from PG to edmonton, having to stop every 10 minutes and let the carb thaw out. That was a PITA

 

Well if it doesn't end up being a weber in a week or two it's an engine swap. I don't know if I'll go 3.4 or find out whatever else I can fit.

 

Do a 3.4 swap.

I want to see how to do it on my 83 .

 

The 22R should start up in the cold. Never had a problem with our 80, or 82. And we get cold like you guys get here as well. I'm in NW Ontario. I can't believe you didn't have a block heater either. Is the choke working on the carb? I had problems with my automatic choke and put a manual choke on it. Got rid of that problem. Good battery is very important. She should start. We run 10W30 in the winter too and they still start just complain a bit till they warm up.

I still have my 82 but I don't use it anymore. I got rid of my gas problem all together and put in a 4 cyl TD. With dual batteries and 5W40 syn in it it starts up in the cold well. Just as well as the old 22R used to. Much better on fuel as well and tons more power.

 

Checked the choke, changed the oil, put a block heater in, new battery, new terminals and power/ground wires, new plugs/wires. Everything helped it start but it turned reeealy slowly and won't even turn over now... must be the new starter is bad it's happened to me before right after buying one. I think it has a fuel delivery problem too making it even harder. The fuel pump looks new if it is what I'm looking at lol.

 

What kind of starter did you buy and why did you get another one? Mine slowly went bad but it was the contacts that were screwed. Took the contacts out and they were wore almost to nothing so I cleaned them up a bit and silver soldered them up and they work perfect now. That could be your problem.

 

I didn't buy the starter the PO did, he put it in 3k ago when the motor was rebuilt. I'll try a starter rebuild first. I'm running out of money I took a month off work right after I bought this and my 4runner, got a welder yesterday and christmas is expensive. I'm looking for the cheapest way out now and if it wasn't too icy I'd push start it every time.

 

Seized pully?

 

So I put a new starter in today and it almost started then the starter fried... It was turning fine and almost started then the starter quit. I don't feel like going back to partsource today so I'll try another one tomorrow. It was a champion starter.

 

i think you need to stop fussing with that truck and just sell it to me

 

I'll never sell it, once I get the starting issue worked out I can start the mods.

 

*bump for edit.