Crappy weekend

MountaineerTom · June 7, 2003

So I'm at my mom and dad's in WV for the weekend. We were going to go ride our 4 wheelers, had them loaded up, got gas, went to leave the pumps and the truck wouldn't start. The infamous "clicking" sound when your starter goes out. Tried hitting it a few times to get it to work with no luck. None of the local parts stores can get a starter, dealer was closed until Monday and I have to be back in SC tomorrow.

Long story short; Elwood came out the gas station and we hauled my atv trailer back to mom and dad's, pushed my truck out of the way, and had the truck towed to mom and dad's on a roll-back. Lovely sight. Elwood's letting me use his Blazer to get back home with my trailer. Thanks bro.

SilveradoWV · June 7, 2003

That sucks! Its never pretty seeing a chevy on a roll back! Glad I wasnt there, it would have looked like I was bad luck!

03HDINTEX · June 7, 2003

Sorry to hear about your bad luck.

Oh, by the way, I have never been that crazy about red on a truck...

but yours is one of the best looking ones I have ever seen.

Hope you get her back on the road ASAP.

k1500chevy97 · June 7, 2003

That sucks

I think that there are aftermarket starters out there for the 99 so you wont have to spend the mucho $$$$ on the GM one

Was it a ford rollback ?

MountaineerTom · June 8, 2003

Thanks 03HDINTEX.

Not sure if it was a ford or not, didin't really pay attention.

On the up side, I got something fron Ebay for cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...&category=33721

woyster_00z71 · June 8, 2003

That sucks about the truck Tom! But, I see you ordered the add-on alarm that I installed last weekend. So far so good. I still like it and feel positive you will too. Let me know if there is anything I can help with and hope you get the truck fixed soon!

B.J.

99silveradoz71 · June 8, 2003

Hope she gets back on the road without too much trouble.

timk49 · June 8, 2003

Well it's only a starter and most of us can fix that problem in the dark. Still sucks to be on a weekend and haveing the truck go down.

MountaineerTom · June 9, 2003

Yeah, the starter is easy enough to change, I just wish could have found one to replace it with before I came back to SC.

BJ, after kind of following your posts about the add-on alarm, I decided to bid on one, and turned out to be the one and only bidder.

Too bad we couldn't have met up to go riding SilveradoWV, but the way things turned out on my end, would still probably wouldn't have been able to meet up.

AirForceAngler · June 9, 2003

Tom,

Are you sure it was the starter? I've seen that happen a few times before and it was the Positive terminal on the batter that was actually going bad. It is not an uncommon thing with the Delco Batteries or side post batteries. It happened to my 99 Tahoe. I went to jump it and as soon as I touched the cables to the terminal the whole terminal fell off. At least 2 people I work with also had this happen. Check yours before buying a starter.

melbertbloosfan · June 9, 2003

Tom,

Are you sure it was the starter? I've seen that happen a few times before and it was the Positive terminal on the batter that was actually going bad. It is not an uncommon thing with the Delco Batteries or side post batteries. It happened to my 99 Tahoe. I went to jump it and as soon as I touched the cables to the terminal the whole terminal fell off. At least 2 people I work with also had this happen. Check yours before buying a starter.

Have to say this exact thing happened on my wifes '01 venture minivan, too. Got the click and went to wiggle the battery terminal and the f-ing post fell right off.

Cheap, cheap battery (and an absolute beiotch to get to in that little van). Take if from two Mikes, maybe worth checking out.

MountaineerTom · June 9, 2003

Me and Elwood hooked some cables up to the battery but didn't notice anything loose or abnormal, but we didn't inspect it really close or anything.

I'll leave a message for my dad to check the battery when he gets home from work. Thanks for the suggestions.

I hate not having my truck with me.

MarkD · June 9, 2003

Best way to tell is to check the voltage at the starter before and during starting. If you see a large voltage change, it has to be the starter.

Elwood · June 9, 2003

When I go back to mom and dad's this weekend to fix it I should fix it, but tell Tom it still doesn't work, so I can drive his truck around for a while.

AirForceAngler · June 9, 2003

Me and Elwood hooked some cables up to the battery but didn't notice anything loose or abnormal, but we didn't inspect it really close or anything.

The best way to tell is there will usually be some leakage around the POS terminal. Usually, but not always. Hope it's your battery and not your starter. $$