Sorry for the possibility of a duplicate post and being my first, I both need the assistance and I don't wish to ruffle feathers.

I am NOT mechanically inclined in the least, but can usually do the minor replacements/maintenances required to keep my vehicles moving.

Anyway: my 93 pick-up, 22re 4X, manual transmission, is experiencing an electrical issue (?) and I'm assuming it is the battery, but was looking for a second opinion.

Over the past week my truck has been having a difficult time starting, I get in in the morning turn the key and the starter will turn a half dozen times or so and then nothing. If I wait a minute it, try again it will start. (????) I again did this little dance for at least the past week.
Last night after sitting since Friday after work (pm), It would not even turn over? I have not tried jumping it yet this morning and as I stated in the topic, I'm assuming a bad battery (will more than likely pull it and run it too the auto parts store this morning), but when I reveiwed some threads here there is mention of bad starter, starter ground/wiring being a potential culprit.
I also know that on an old Corolla I had (73) there was a voltage regulator that was the cause of some starting issues.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom.

Terry

 

The chances of you having a Multimeter would likely not be good Correct???

With something like this you have to test and eliminate one thing at a time.

Was the charge light on at all??

It would not hurt to test the charging system as well as the starter.

rather then just replace things till you get lucky and find what is bad!!

Could be battery

Battery terminals

Cables being just old and burnt from thermal cycling all these years.

Bad contacts in the starter

Good luck.

 

Appreciate the reply and you assume correctly, no multimeter.

How does one know if the cables are burnt/bad? Idid recently replace the cable ends as they were splitting and quite loose because of it?

Should I make an effort to chase cables and check connections?

I'd assume if the contacts are bad in the starter, there is no way to "check" this?

Oh and no the charge light never was on...

 

I'd start with the easiest thing and remove battery and get it checked.

 

With no charge light, it is probably not going to be an alternator. I would suggest tracing out the battery cables and verifying they are not damaged, especially the ends you replaced. Make sure they are still tight and no corrosion. Then I would jump start it. With it running disconnect the battery cable, just one, and see if it stays running. if bad alternator it should die on you. If it does stay running and the cables are both in good shape I would lean toward the battery for sure.

one other thing I would check is after you have run it, kill the truck turn off the key and all accessories, then disconnect the pos cable.... drag it across the post .. if it sparks at all you have a short someplace which would be dragging the battery down.

 

I would check the charging system the poor mans way. Get the truck started and idling. Disconnect the NEGATIVE battery cable. Rev it a bit. If the truck stays running, the alternator is putting out enough juice to supply the system. Turn it off, clean the battery post and cable ends with either a wire brush, or an old knife. A little baking soda/water mix can clean the battery post and gunk around them. Make sure all connections are tight. Cable to clamp end, clamp end to battery, everything. Disconnect the negative cable from the battery and make sure the cable is tight to the starter, you may even want to wire brush them for cleaning purposes. Reconnect and try it.

When you say it turns over half a dozen times, does it turn over fast and normal, or does it seem real slow?

 

Thanks to everyone for the posts and I did pull/clean cables and did the alternator check.

Turns out the battery was in fact the culprit. After replacement everything is as it should be.

Again, many thanks to all who responded with some GREAT advice.

Cheers!