When I turn the key, I hear a "click". This began about a month ago, but only happened about once a week. Now it takes about 10 tries to start the rig every time.

They Haynes manual helped me narrow it down a bit, but I want to check w/ others here who may have had the same issue.

The battery is brand new (and the problem existed prior to getting a new battery), and the starter cranks fine once it catches. So I'm wondering if it may be as simple as a loose connection between the positive of the battery and the solenoid on the starter.

Someone told me that it might be a lack of a spark from the distributor, but I think this year/engine is a distributorless setup. Any help's much appreciated!

-Smittie

 

check the lead on the starter. mine did the same thing, and it was because the wire to the starter was lose. after tightening, i haven't had any problems.

 

Smittie: Run a search for Starters. There have been quite a few Posts recently regarding people with similar problems as what you are describing. On my truck, I had two instances of starter issues as you described. It turned out to be the contacts in the starter.....just one was bad in mine and the starter worked fine as long as the starter didn't end it's rotation and rest on the bad contact. You can save money by pulling out your starter and having the contacts replaced. I did this and saved several hundred dollars. The other problem I had was that the wiring in our trucks age and build up resistance so that a good current flow doesn't flow to the starter. I had an auxillary relay wired up and this fixed the problem.

Again, use the Search feature and you'll find additional things that others have experienced. You then can determine which things that people described best fits the symptoms of your truck.....they'll also state what they did to fix the problem.

Good luck,
David