I put in a lt4 starter last week because my starter went bad, and as of today the new one is doing the same thing as before-it just rapidly clicks when you turn the key. Ive replaced the battery, cleaned all the connections, and now i'm not sure what it could be besides another bad starter. I've tried jumping the starter, but when I do it the gear comes out but won't turn, maybe i'm doing it wrong. Any suggestions?

 

C'mon, somebody has to know if i'm jumping the starter right. I'm jumping the positive to the small pole, then grounding out the starter. It just sends the gear out but doesn't spin.

 

Does it rapidly click while holding the key or does it click only once? If it clicks once it is from the solenoid not getting a good contact and not forcing it to turn over. Otherwise I have not run in to the rapidly clicking problem.

 

Clicking is from the starter circuit not getting enough current. As in you could be hearing the solenoid. Or your hearing the Theft Deterrent Relay in the cab clicking.

If your hearing the clicking from the relay in the cab. You have to isolate the TDR and test it. You didn't mention the tranny you have. The TDR is actuated from either a clutch switch or in the case of an automatic, a tranny position switch. It keeps the engine from rotating when the tranny is in gear. Either of those 2 could be defective. The wiring could have a problem, or you could have a low or defective battery.

If the clicking is from under the hood, then you are hearing the solenoid clicking. This is usually from low current. Common causes are bad connections at the battery, bad connections at the starter, bad grounds at the engine or frame or corroded or bad connections anywhere in between.

After you check all the connections for a clean surface (you have to remove them) then measure the voltage across the battery when someone turns the key to start. It should not drop below 11 volts. If it does, either the battery, the wiring or the alternator is bad. The alternator can be checked by again checking the voltage across the battery once the engine is running. If it's idling at the proper speed, the voltage across the battery should be around 14 volts.

You can get the engine started by jumping batery voltage directly to the starter. If it still doesn't crank doing that, you know either the battery is low or defective or the ground to the starter is bad.

BTW, it helps to put information in your signature like tranny or mods and put your location in your profile. Some times those things can help in troubleshooting correctly.

Hope that helps.

 

This is the kind of info I needed, thanks.

 

I did some testing and this is what I found out: The battery is good, so is the starter. The wiring that connects to the starter shows it's getting over 12-volts, until I connect it to the starter itself. When I connect it and turn the key, it goes up to about 3-volts, the solenoid clicks and then power gets disconnected, it comes back on line then the solenoid clicks, and power goes off again. It does this very rapidly, I'm sure its the wiring somewhere, but since everything is getting the proper voltage I don't know what to do besides replace all the wiring. Any thoughts?

 

Take the starter out,and clean the surface it mates to on the block.Get it nice and shiny with sandpaper.Make sure all the other connections are clean too.

 

Easier said than done. When I took mine out, I ended up laying underneath the car for about 45 minutes trying to jigsaw it out of there without bending the fuel lines.

 

You should get some headers, it comes out in about 30 seconds now. Anyway I ended up replacing the ground wire to the battery and she starts now, the wire itself looks fine but there must be a break in there somewhere.