What an evening!

[EMD_DRIVER]

Went to AZ this evening, to get a new starter mounted solenoid. I've been chasing down a gremlin for almost a week now, and I thought this was the cure..

Got the solenoid put on and the starter installed, but still had voltage that I couldn't explain.

I was asking Mel things to try, then it was time to do an alternator output test..

Mind you, I still hadn't tried out the new starter solenoid yet. I climbed up in the cab and turned the key.. After the GP light went out, I turned it to start. It didn't start after 15 seconds of cranking, so I turned the key off. Problem was, that the starter kept cranking! I jumped out of the cab, hung up on Mel and scrambled feverishly to get something unhooked.

I first tried the solenoid wire, but that didn't help. I dug through my toolbox for a half inch wrench, and only found a 13mm one. I was so frantic to get the negative battery terminals off, that I just grabbed them and twisted them off. Needless to say, they were a bit warm.

Called Mel back and apologized to him for hanging up on him, then waited for the starter to cool and smoke to clear. Probably 15 minutes after I got it to stop cranking, I went back under the truck to pull the starter. Even 15 minutes later, the starter was VERY hot. Ended up burning my hands quite a bit, but I wanted to get the defective solenoid back to AZ before they closed. When I got there, I showed the thing to the guy behind the counter and he just shook his head.. Good thing is, that I got my money back.

I am bound and determined to make it to the rally... I just wish my truck would cooperate!

Mel: Thanks for all your help!

Gary

 

[BigRigTech]

So you took the "crank" power away from the fender relay and it still kept on cranking? If your battery terminals were warm then something is wrong with them or the connection. The "feel" test is quite good when looking for bad connections. We do it at work all the time on big rig's when we have a lazy starter complaint. Find a hot connection and you've found a bad cable or dirty connection. I still think you have a ground issue. Did you do a voltage drop test between both neg battery terminals and the cable attached to them?

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

I had connection problems, when I got the truck. As of now, all the battery connections are good. I may not have had them tightened down, as much as I would normally.. Just well-snugged. Voltage drop tests were good, on the negative terminals and cables.

I now have to get my batteries checked again. We'll see what the results are.

 

[BigRigTech]

I feel for ya, I've been doing pretty much nothing but electrical troubleshooting at work for 2 weeks straight on Freightshakers- my brain is fried.......I got a real doozy right now...06 Columbia with light problems. Spent all day on it - nothing solved and the entire dash ripped apart...Day two tommorow.....It get's ******* the head. Have you changed your fender relay yet? If you have power on the pos stud on the start and it's not being cranked then it's possible you have a bad fender relay - this might explain why it didn't stop cranking when you turned the key off.

 

[icanfixall]

I have to agree with Red on the fender solenoid sticking in the closed position. Thats the only way power gets to the starter windings. All the starter sloenoid does is ingage the starter to the gear. On my truck I can disconnect the power going to the starter windings. When I finished my rebuild install I hit the ignition switch and all I got was the starter sloenoid engaging the starter to the gear. No spinning of the starter. I finally found the heavy cable that goes down to the starter had slid down by the vacuun pump. I had both batteries connected and just couldn't find why "things" didn't spin. Sure was an easy fix.... On the fender solenoid pull off the black wire and use a screwdriver to pump it over to the large side closest to the heater. If it continues to crank you found your problem. Its probably been hangin up for some time and just draining the batteries.

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

The wire that goes between the solenoids was the first thing I pulled off, while it was cranking. Even with it off, it still kept right on cranking. It wasn't until I got both negative battery cables off, that it finally quit cranking.

Gary

 

[BigRigTech]

That's wierd....You took the signal wire off from the relay to the solenoid while cranking at it still continued to cranked? I still think it's a ground issue. Ground the block to the cab and RF fender and try cranking it. It still sounds like something isn't grounded well enough and the current is straying elsewhere causing all kinds of wierd **** to happen.

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

It lives!

Odd as it may seem... I put the old starter mounted solenoid back on, after my fiasco last evening. I made sure all wiring associated with the starter, fender mounted solenoid, alternator and voltage regulator were properly routed and there were no shorts. Also charged both batteries.

Turned the key and it fired right up! No slow cranking.. No endless cranking, or any problems whatsoever!

I did check the cranking, while under the hood. Making sure that I could kill the power, well before it had a chance to cause more problems. No problems there either.

Thanks for all the suggestions over the past week! And a special thank you to Agnem (Mel) for all his wisdom!

Gary

 

[BigRigTech]

You probably fixed a bad connection and didn't realize it after everything you checked..

 

[EMD_DRIVER]

I forgot to add, that the new alternator is putting out juice like gangbusters! Went from 11.8v two days ago, to 13.9v today.

Guess I got something right!