My battery is testing at 12.26 volts cold, so that should be plenty of juice to start the truck. The starter solenoid feels like it is working, so that just pretty much leaves me with the starter itself, right? I replaced the battery ground strap, so that should be good. It WILL start if jumped, it just won't start on its own, even though the battery has plenty of voltage in it.

 

if it's just giving you a click and not cranking over, your starter contacts are probably burned out. i think they cost around $15 to replace.

 

The contacts are good. I replaced them about 6 months ago, and just checked them again, and they look great.

 

I would take the starter in to a place like autozone to get it tested for free. I know its gonna be a PITA to remove but that would tell you if the problem is the starter.

Before you do that I would check the voltage at the connection point for the 'hot' cable at the starter with a multimeter. If the reading there is lower, you may have a bad connection or a faulty cable.

My battery reads 12.7 volts when cold.

 

If the solenoid works ok and the contacts are fine you have a few more areas to look.

1) Loose, broken or corroded ground

2) Loose, broken or corroded positive cable to starter

3) Terminals on the battery

4) Starter itself

 

just because the battery has 12.26 volts cold doesn't mean there is enough cranking voltage under load.
have your battery load tested, its less money for a battery than a starter.

 

Yes, you need to measure voltages under load. Heck, stack up 8-10 AA cells and you can get 12.x volts, too, but nowhere near enough current to start the engine. As I replied to your other thread:

Ishort, test the voltage at the starter terminals, both the solenoid control wire and the heavy cable while starting. If either shows a significant (> 0.5 volt) drop from the battery, your problem is upstream from the starter. If the voltages are OK at the starter, then the problem is in the starter itself. And if your battery voltage is dipping a lot under load, then it may be discharged or bad.

See my web page for more ideas:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...l#OtherOptions

 

[QUOTE=4Crawler]Yes, you need to measure voltages under load. Heck, stack up 8-10 AA cells and you can get 12.x volts, too, but nowhere near enough current to start the engine.

Ha ha ha, that reminds me of when my high school auto teacher started a VW with 50 oranges wired in series

 

That must have been fun to see.

 

Awesome!

 

[QUOTE=84sr5yoty]Hold on guys, my truck won't start, I'm gonna have to run to the grocery store.