So, I was teaching my girlfriend how to drive my 1994 x-cab 22RE, she pulls up to tim horton's drive thru, and stalls. Fine and dandy, until she turns the key, and click! I know what you're thinking, sellenoid, brushes, contacts... Nope. We push started her, drove home, and I changed the starter, still the same. But the clicking isn't in the starter, it's coming from the circuit opening relay. So I changed it out also, and turned the key. Seemed to get a turn or two out of the starter, then nothing. Am I blowing circuit opening relays? I tried both starters on both the relays now and nothing. I tried hooking booster cables to the batt. and touched pos. on the bolt and neg. all over the starter, (both actually) and cannot seem to get them to turn or even engage, is there something special I must do to test them? This really has me baffled, anyone else have this problem? I have searched the forums and cannot find an answer. Thanks a million!

 

When your testing a starter you also have the energize the solenoid other wise it is in the same condition as when it is in the vehicle.

Positive cable on the stud and grounded via the bolts to the block

I just use a small jumper wire and touch both the stud and the spade terminal a clip on one end is helpful

I hope this helps

 

bentch test your starter make shure u did not get a bad new one it happends

 

It wasn't a new one, it was one out of a parts truck which I know at the end of the summer the starter worked fine, but it's been in my shed for a few months. Could the contacts possibly be gone in both? Thanks for the quick replies!

 

That could be I would bentch test the. New and old one if the sound strong then it is a wiring issue maybe not enough juice geting to the starter from the battery jknow it sounds wierd but the wires do go bad and build up to much resistance. U said u put a jump pack on the Battery and it got better maybe u have a power supply issue

 

Update: I bench tested both starters, the spline is kicking out but will not spin, does this mean the contacts are bad? It has me dumbfounded knowing the other starter worked fine a few months ago, and the original starter gave out without warning, I never had a problem with it before.

 

If the contacts are bad, it'll be obvious from looking at them. They'll be black and pitted and/or have a significant step worn in them. Don't forget to eyeball the ring on the plunger too.

 

I'm now thinking it's the solenoid, I changed around the brushes, used two good ones in one starter, and it's still the same, apparently if it's gone, the spline will kick out but will not turn.

 

If you changed the starter and the new one is doing the exact same thing then it's likely not the starter itself....but it's directly related to 2 wires.....the wimpy 10 gauge ground wire on the backside of the valve cover.....or the heavy 6 or 8 gauge positive cable going from the starter main body to the battery(or perhaps the fuse box right next to it).

 

x2...

 

Would any of those cause the spline to kick out and not spin? That's what i'm dealing with right now.

 

Yep....start with the one behind the valve cover....it's only 12 inches long. Verify it's a solid connection on both ends.

 

There is a wire going from the engine lifting bracket to the firewall, is that it? It's in good shape, making good contact. No fraying. and the wire seems to be good, but I don't know for sure, I guess the only way to know would be to put a jumper cable directly from the pos. bolt to the battery?

 

The tiny 16ga. jumper wire that activates the starter always gave me troubles...

 

Is that the single wire that clips onto the starter?

 

Yes, the single tiny wire is the bendix control wire....your bendix kicks out so that is not the issue.

Ok...wire behind valve cover is ok.....there is one more ground wire and that's from the battery to the chassis...it's a short one...might be the flat braided stuff. Verify it has rust free connections.

Then you can run a jumper, like you say, from the positve post to the starter directly and see if it fires up....without any"fire".

edit----one more thought....did your battery possibly crap out? To test if it went open circuit mode try turning on the headlights and see if the horn will sound off properly.

 

There are two grounds from the neg. on the battery, one goes directly to the block and one to the fender, but the fender one seems loose, even though the bolt is tight, it's always been like that. But there is another to the block so that one should be grounding. I tried jumping it, I used booster cables, one red end to the pos. battery terminal, the other red end to the starter. the Black end to the Neg. and the other black end to the fender. all it did was spark, I even tried turning the key with this setup but just one click again, (The spline "Bendix?" coming out, but not turning.) And I also put my fathers truck next to mine and tried boosting her, but to no avail. My Battery gauge reading almost 18 volts at the key turn. I'm guessing the solenoid is gone, I've called all the parts dealers around here, and they don't even stock them.

EDIT: Oh, and I also changed the starter relay. Tried two, actually.

 

I am having almost the exact same issue on my 88 with the 22re. Sometimes it will crank over, other times it wont, however if I pop start it, it will turn over without fail. I am also thinking the issue to be the wiring as I had also replaced the starter.

 

How would I direct wire the starter, to figure out if it is? if it kicks over I'll know then that I'm up to my throat in issues. I've tried it as I've explained, but am I doing it right?

 

connect the pos. cable from battery to stud on solenoid on starter, connect ground from battery to the little clip where the small wire connects to starter alligator clip, and a small piece of wire will make this a lot easier), if it dont work, starter is bad, if itr does, most likely that little clip that completes the circuit(ground) is the issue.