So, about a week ago my starter began giving me the dreaded clicks when I turned the key. Turing to YT for advice, I quickly found that my contacts were bad and I proceeded to replace those. That went off without too much of a hitch, just some busted knuckles and choice words about the starter and its lineage. I buttoned the whole thing up yesterday and it worked fine.....until that evening.
I came back to the truck to find the battery dead. I got a jump, but now the battery just can't seem to hold charge. I let the truck run for a while to charge it back up that night, but it still was dead when I checked it this morning. Is it possible there is a short somewhere in the starter that would be dumping all the power out of the battery? I checked that I had everything shut off in the truck tonight, so nothing obvious is stealing my juice. Any advice?

Oh yeah, I've got a '98 SR5 4WD, YT is a great forum and I'm hoping for some answers! Thanks!

 

Could be that the battery is just shot...

How old is it?

 

Take the battery in to get it tested. Its that time of year for batteries to just up and die.
If you only replaced the contacts, nothing would drain the battery from the starter.
Also the alternator could have horked a furball.
Remember....thing happen in threes.

 

Skrillah, I got the truck this spring, so it's at least that old. There's a stamp on it that say 08/06, so I assume it's a year and change old.
And tell me about it, KdF. I've yanked the battery and will be getting it tested shortly. Thanks for the advice.

 

Indeed they do! Things happen in 3's.

 

Argh, the battery came back fine. I've had some issues with too much electrical load at idle killing the engine, so my next target is the alternator. Any suggestions there for a noob?

 

You can take that in for a test as well.
Does the lights seem dim when running at night?
That would be a sure sign of a alternator.
Clean the battery leads real good?
Check the ground wire at the block for looseness?

 

I cleaned off my battery leads and made sure everything was tightened down good, and I saw a big improvement. I'm hoping it was that, I must have left them a bit loose after taking them off for the starter.

I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days, but it looks like that was the problem. And I'm an idiot.

 

Clean em up real well with a battery contact cleaner and brush, and hit it all with battery protector spray. I will help eliminate that corrosion that builds up, and corrodes your battery and terminals.

I did that to my 86 4Runner 3 years ago, and have never even had to look at it since. Still looks like brand new.

Here is a pic of the stuff I use, 100% recommended!:



And get a high quality one of these as well, dont just go the $2 cheapo one, they work like crap: