Bad starter?

bearhead · June 30, 2016

Like the title says I think I got a bad starter but want to run it through other before I go throwin $. Got a 99 gmc sierra slt with a 5.7 4x4. Just had the transmission rebuilt, still shifts a little hard here and there but no biggie.

So the other day I had to gun my truck, pedal to metal a few times for an emergency. Truck ran great got up and went. I do recall it shifting hard 1st and 2nd during. Got.home safely and soundly. Got up the next day and all.i get are clicks when I turn it over, lights are all on bells dings radio plays. Just clicks and won't even try to turn over. My mechanical brain says the starter. But. Do they just go bad all.of a sudden?

rjgti · June 30, 2016

should be a relay on it, and measure your bat volts with lights on also to check your battery

arcasey · July 1, 2016

I'd start with what rjgti said. If you are getting clicking when trying to start your truck chances are either the battery is weak or you have a bad connection. It won't hurt to take your battery terminals off and try to clean them and then re-connect. If you still have issues after that and checking the relay then I would look at starter. Typically when a starter motor goes bad it will have trouble turning the motor over. There is a solenoid on the starter as well that can be damaged from high heat. If you rule out everything else and are still having trouble you might want to check the starter by bench testing it to make sure the solenoid is working properly.

ChevroletTough · July 1, 2016

Could be a bad connection or the relay is bad on the starter. I had this happen this winter in -25 degree weather. Battery was good, even tried jump, just a click. Lights all came on and worked as they should. If you touch the positive and negative terminals on the solenoid on the starter itself (with a box wrench), it will try to start and did start for me. I had to turn the key the key like i wanted it to start while the other guy touched the solenoid terminals. Drove it home and replaced the starter and solenoid (solenoid is not replaceable on my 04, required a whole new starter.) If you do replace the starter, make sure NOT to buy a reman one. Spend the extra money on a new one and be done with it.

bearhead · November 5, 2017

corrosion on neg battery cable was the issue, resolved.

Celerity · November 6, 2017

That's always the issue. Lots of times it's easy to get in-depth on the forums, but more often than not this is the issue.

But another thing to look out for: When your ground is weak and starting is tough, if at all, the electricity tries to find another way to the circuit. This is usually the e-brake cable. When this happens, I know that it's possible the next that happens is going to be the ebrake cable snapping.

It got hot. not an "always" thing, but something to keep in mind.