A chronic case of the gremlins - starter/solenoid/drain/????

[chris_wei17]

Here's a brain tickler for you. I'll try and keep it as organized and methodical as possible. Patient is a 1994 F-250 7.3 Turbo IDI (K VIN for those who are curious), AFAIK the only modification is the current absence of exhaust system. Right now the pipe leaves the turbo, comes down, and dumps a few inches behind the cab.

Every once in a while, I'll go to start the truck and it acts like the batteries are dead - WTS light on for ~10 sec, clicking ~1/sec (about 15 clicks, which I'm learning may mean bad GP(s)) slow, lazy crank, sometimes engine/starter keeps barely turning after key off and removed. I'll take the batteries in, charge them to 100%, hook everything back up and she'll fire up like no other. and then all of a sudden she'll do the dead battery thing again later in a day where everything was fine.

This has led me to chase the following problems after each battery draining snafu:

- fender mount relay - replaced (BWD brand from Advance) was no good, put it on and it wouldn't click. Put the old one back on and atleast I could get power to the starter solenoid.

-replaced battery cable terminals and have two brand new batteries. One was going bad and one was only 750 cca

-replaced starter mounted solenoid (same BWD brand) and then all I got was a click when I turned the key, no crank. So I put the old one back with the batteries I charged yet another time. Is this BWD stuff no good?

And now last night I get on the road with 3/4 in the rear tank and head 45 minutes into my trip to try and find cheaper diesel away from the city. Pull in, fill up, try to start and I get the lazy crank again. Really didnt want to pay AAA to tow me back so when the kid got there I asked him if he wanted to help me kick start it instead of tow me. He pulled out the winch, dragged me 20 yards, popped into second gear and that was that. The kicker is that when I got on the road, I tried to turn my lights on, but I already had when I left the gas station. Then I realized that all my electronics were gone, no gauges, no radio, wipers, turn signals, everything. Parked in the bottom level of the garage when I got back, shut her down and the cabin light came on when I opened the door very very dim though. And that's where she sits. No fuses visibly blown but ill check them with the meter. I'm gonna take advantage of the battery warranty and try to trade them in, and start checking grounds again. I've done it once but I guess I'll try again.

EDIT: I should also add that whenever this happens, I never get the typical dead battery clicking noise from the starter, it always just cranks extremely slowly until I disconnect the cables or it slows to a stop


Here's my plan of attack:

-pull starter, disassemble for a visual check. Maybe replace but hopefully not.

-check GP resistance and replace accordingly.

-Replace probably all of the heavy duty battery cables, some look a little green at the exposed ends.

But beyond that I'm at a loss. There are a couple other minor electrical quirks but none that seem fatal. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[damac]

45 minutes into the trip and your battery power delivery was worse than when you started?

Have you had your batteries tested outside the truck? If they are good your alternator isn't charging.

A few years ago when I got my first diesel we got it from an abusing owner that said it was good to go. It fired up and we test drove it then drove it home almost 100 miles at night. I was ghosting my brother and noticed his lights getting dimmer. By the time he pulled into the driveway certain circuits were tweaking out and you couldn't restart the truck, battery banks were drained.

As far as cranking power goes our truck also seemed to work but also had various electric bugs. Didn't know how good that truck could start until we replaced starter with gear reduction unit, batteries, and we also rewired all the battery cables with some marine lugs to start fresh. Ours looked ok on the outside with the covering but when I pulled them apart one was internally rotted in spots. So I made my own cables with stuff from genuinedealz online store at home with a torch and their marine wire. Nice thicker than stock stuff that you can easily bend/route.(make sure to make runs through protective loom). Cleaned/grinded every attached location and sprayed with protectant after. Also added another ground to body and alternator.

 

[chris_wei17]

I haven't had the batteries tested yet, they're only about a month old but when I replaced them they tested the alternator with that computer machine that has a clamp that goes around one of the truck wires, had me run through different engine speeds and he said the alternator was charging. I'm gonna check the alternator circuit too, maybe there's an occasional short or bad ground in there? The batteries are only toasted after a drive every once in a while. Never this badly though, although I've also never driven it with dead batteries after one of these episodes, I usually tie then to the charger over night.

 

[chris_wei17]

And these gear reduction starters I keep hearing about, do you guys have any specific one you like best? Maybe I need to stop looking at advance/autozone but napa never seems to have stock, atleast the couple times I've tried.

I think this is the mitsubishi one that people seem to like?

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=RSE2446265_0317617385