Hello everyone, been reading the board for a while now and have learned a ton. You guys are great!

Bought an 88 single cab 4x4 22RE truck early this year and I love it. The guy that sold me the truck said the 130k miles on the odometer were the true miles and the motor had never been broken into. The guy even went as far as hooking me up with the guy that owned it before him and all I heard was great things about the truck. Of course that guy confirmed everything the seller was saying. The price was good and I bit. Needless to say it wasnt long and the engine crapped out on me (spun #2 rod bearing).

Once I got into the lower half of the engine I found that I was not the first person to be in there. I found it had a reground crank and some junkyard rodcaps. I was a little upset but I got the truck at a decent price, and I got the truck that I wanted so I just fixed it and called it good.

Now my question.
I did all the work myself save for having a shop check my head and block. After reinstalling the motor all I would get from my starter was that infamous click-click. I determined it wasnt the battery, and it wasnt the starter itself. I have the starter wired to a toggle switch on the dash right now. Turn on the key then turn on the toggle switch till it starts and turn off the toggle switch. What am I missing? I called myself checking all the fuses and such and for the life of me I cant find the culprit. Any ideas would be great.

 

Here's what worked for me (so far) - Pull the small single wire off of the starter and use it to operate a relay (you'll probably need to add a couple of feet of wire to make it easier). Ground the negative side of the relay. Run a wire straight from the battery to one of the switchable posts of the relay. Run a wire from the other side directly to the starter (where the old wire was). You can remove the toggle set-up. The activation wire going to the starter is probably worn and doesn't provide enough juice any more. It will still power a relay, though. When the relay closes it will supply power directly from the battery to the starter. Good luck.

 

Did the same on mine, as mtnfreak did on his. It is called an Auxillary Starter Relay. The original wires' resistance go up as they age and don't pass current as well. I did mine a year and a half ago and have not had starter problems since.

David