Recently my 86 22RE truck encounter about 2 feet of water and as soon as it made contact the entire car shut off. I'm pulling the e-brake + charge light so I know the alternator needs replacement. Is it common for a starter to take water damage as well? The car will not turn over, it sounds as if it is too weak to make a full revolution, it makes a sound as if it is trying though. I just replaced the fuses to be certain plus I have a new battery and I made sure it had a full charge by charging it over night. I want to try to get this old rig running tomorrow. If anyone has any experience with the problem I would appreciate the insight. Thanks, Mike.

 

Did you suck some water into the intake and hydrolock it, water doesn't compress very well. Try removing all the spark plugs and see if it'll turn over. If you have water in there it'll shoot out of the holes, so don't be looking down them.

 

thanks for the reply eric, I have already carried out that task. There was a small amount of water in the cylinders but I blew them all out with an air compressor.

 

You could have some water or mud in the starter solenoid causing problems:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml

 

Thanks for the replies 4 Crawler, I just got a new starter from NAPA which looks like a decent quality unit. Should I install the starter from the top or bottom of the truck if you are familiar with this procedure? Also, when I crawled under I found a grey or maybe dirty white wire that was hanging, it comes from the positive terminal on the battery so I figured this could be a important factor in my truck not functioning. I need to purchase a manual to have a guide for how everything should be.

 

Most likely it should go to the starter somewhere. I'm not too familiar with older trucks so hopefully Roger will be able to help more.

 

Could have saved some cash by troubleshooting the problem a bit more, but if you can swing it, try to keep your old starter in case the new/rebuilt one acts up as they often do. You can put a volt meter on the starter power and control terminal (as described on the web page above) and see if it is getting good voltage. If not, the problem is not in the starter.

Only one big heavy cable runs from the battery to the starter, regardless of new vehicle or old. Then there will be a small gauge wire from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid that turns the starter on and off. Not sure what the wire you mention goes to. And you'll find full removal and installation instructions on the web page posted above.

 

Hey thanks for all the help everyone, She fired right up when I put the new starter on, thank god it was only that.