I was driving my truck. Came home and didnt drive it for a couple of hours. I go to turn it on and all it does is a loud click. Battery IS charged.

I left it alone and today i re-route my ground to a different spot and go to turn it on and again a loud click. A friend of mine says that this wire/fuse thing popped and smoked alot. So here is a picture and it looks like a ground from my frame to a bolt on my plenum. Any ideas???


Connected at the plenum.





Connected to the frame.




Any help is appreciated!!

 

Thats a ground wire that comes from the fire wall to the valve cover. If it smoked then there must be a problem with the main ground wire coming off the battery, so this small wire is trying to carry the load. I would replace the ground wires and run one from the battery to the inner fender, and from the battery to the engine block and also to the frame. That should fix your problem.

 

So do i leave that wire there and just go about re-routing the ground to the block and i already have one to the inner fender.

 

Leave the ground from the battery to the inner fender, add another ground from the battery to the engine block, that will help a lot. The factory ground are very poor, and adding a few more and using a heavier gauge wire will help also.

 

The factory battery cables are known for basically rotting from the inside out. The cable can look fine at a glance if you're just looking at it, but you have to probe at and feel the entire length of the cable to find the bad spot. Usually some moister gets in at either one of the ends, or can find its way in at a small cut in the insulation, and the inner cable will corrode, break apart, and then no more gound connection

There should be multiple gound connections, but only one is meant to carry the load of the starter, and that's the main one going right from the - post of the battery, and should be bolted to the block. Then you have the one that connects to the inner fender there; that one helps distribute a gound source over the entire vehicle. And the you've got that one from the firewall (tapping into that vehicle-wide ground source provided by the ground on the inner fender ) going to the upper portion of the engine, which usually lets all of the engine sensers read, and even provides the gound source for the spark plugs.

Definately look at that main ground cable from the battery to the block, as suggested above

 

Will a poor ground make my truck click loudly when turninng the key to turn on the truck. And make it not turn on?

 

Yes it can.

 

Ok cool. Well I will work on those grounds tomorrow. Hopefully thats my problem. Thanks for all the help! Will post the outcome.!

 

ya i ditch my factory grounds now i have all 4ga one to the fender one to the alt bracket and one to the frame

 

If the starter is bad, causing too much resistance, this will also cause a problem. The smallest wires will of course smoke first, and if its drawing too much power you can smoke the grounds.

 

Elton: Where on the frame do you have it grounded?
I will probably ground it somewhere near the PS pump for the block since the alternator is on the other side of the engine bay.
Deathcougar: It's a new starter.

 

mine had some brackets bolted into the frame so i just sanded it real good and stuck the bolt in ... look around im sure you will find something

 

having a "new" starter means squat these days

Did you buy it aftermarket?

Also, check to make sure when you installed it you didn't pinch any cables

 

just run new high quality wire for main power and all grounds.it makes the electrical system allot better on the 94 and prior..

 

So i looked around today to try and find some new places to mount the ground at and i was unsuccessful.

Tried to do it behind the alternator bracket to the the block and it didnt work. Then i tried on the PS pulley bracket and it didnt work. Anybody re route the ground to the block somewhere? Canyou share where you put it?

 

i bought 2 guage for the block and 10 guage for the fender

 

you can put the ground wire directly on the block, but a bracket will work also, just make sure the surface is clean, paint grease and debri will not let the cables get a good ground

 

I put the ground wire to the block today... Turned my key forward and click! Nothin...

I replace the hot to my starter hoping the little oxidation it has is the reason it doesnt start. CLICK!! Doesnt start after i replaced that.

Any ideas as to what else it can be?

 

sounds like that "new" starter has killed over... try tapping on it with a hammer and see if that works

 

Of course. It was iNdeed my starter that locked up. Seems like the last mudding trip sneaked @one water in there. Warranty FTW! Thanks for all the help.!