Thread: battery or ring gear that is the ?

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so heres the the problem i go out to start the truck to go to work last night and i hit the key it tried to start but i let my hand off the ignition before i let it rotate over all the way (opps my BAD). Go to turn it over again and nothing no power to anything i put the battery booster on it thinking i had no juice in and all i got was the the formitable clicking sound out of the solenoid. any suggestions before i really start pulling it apart to fimd the problem? whats ur idea on it the last time i had this problem it was spent under my old truck in -20 below celsius winter in my cousins driveway to find the ring gear cracked all to crap..

Before ya beat the thing or tear her apart. Check your battery connections.. I spent two hours trying to get my motor home started Monday and after tracing all the electrical between the battery and starter, it turned out to be an internally corroded wire from the solenoid to the starter. Actually I even took the starter off. I hate to admit that! It was a new rebuild two years ago with maybe a hundred starts on it tops.. But you never know with electrical stuff.

What Streets said!

Actually, keeping the best connections that you can in the electrical system goes a lomg way to avoiding the sort of frustration you have been experiencing. Battery terminals are the number one source of this sort of problem, followed closely by the cables themselves. The hydrogen sulfide gas emitted by the battery - even the "sealed ones" - seeps into the joint where the cable fits into the clamp, and starts to corrode the connection there; the cables are not really well made, and they are quite prone to this type of corrosion. I use a grease called "Anti-Cor" on my cars. I cleaned the place on the block, frame, and the solenoid, where the cables and ground straps connect, to bare metal, and put the grease on both the cable ends, and the attachment points, as well as the bolts or studs, washers, and nuts, and after they were tightened, wiped the leftovers off really well. They never give me any trouble. At the battery, I greased the "joint" where the cable goes into the clamp, or the cable end, wiped it clean, and sealed it with heat shrink tubing. I clean and grease the posts and clamps, or terminal pads, about every three months, or more often if they show signs of corrosion, but with regular attention, I seldom have any problems. EXCEPT - in my '59 Chevy pickup, where the headers run real cose to the starter; there, its "get it on the first try, or cuss for a while". I'm still using a stock starter, one of the old fat kind, and it is just a big heat sink; and when a chevy starter gets hot, it don't want to work.

The cables in my '59 are made of welding cable (2/0), too Streets, with the copper lugs and clamps soldered on, then sealed with the heat shrink. I've worn all of the zinc plating off of the clamps, but never get any serious problems with the cables. Just the danged ol' starter. I definitely prefer those cables to the store bought kind.

There is also one more distinct possibility. Due to the GM starter solinoids being on the starter, they tend to be a bit more vulnerable. Pull the starter and have it tested if nothing else works. If you try it(Advanced does it for free) and it works, then remove the soloniod. Chances are that the contact point have become worn. Replace it and ill bet $ to pesos that thing will start for years.

thanks guys i check it all over and found the negative battery post was completely black like it had caught fire or something i have never seen this it was like a wrench was put beteen the terminals of something..... other wise i think its all good gonna go try starting her now i will let you know how it goes hehe

Well i wound up buying a new battery in the end guys.put the new one in and turned the key and it fired right up, i took the old battery down to have it tested to find the cells were dead so i sat there and thought about how long i had tha battery and relize i have had for almost ten years (hehehe my bad!!) thanks for the help guys