foxtrot

So out of the blue it decided not to start this morning. A little click is all I get.
Looking at the heater relays both of the inner nuts look like they have been hot. (never looked at them much before) the one closest to the battery was loose so a little tightening revealed its also loose somewhere inside, no good I assume.

My qestion is will these prevent the engine from starting if they go out ? And are the a dealer item ?

1992gen1_fan

I'd say in cold temps it would cause hard starting, in warmer temps the heaters shouldnt matter.

Rammin96

Probably not your heater relay. Pull out your starter relay in your power distribution panel and jump the contacts going to your starter 87 and 30, if it cranks at least you know its not your starter, now it could be the relay there is another in your panel that you can swap in temporarily and check if it starts. If this fails then it may be your ignition switch. If it doesnt crank when you jump the contacts then your starter solenoid is probably gone. Check to make sure your lift pump is not leaking onto your starter. I had this problem in the past, I guess there was a problem with these lift pumps and they leaked, onto the starter which over time if you did not catch it fast enough would pouch your starter solenoid. Particularily because your losing prime and having to crank your engine over more which heats up your starter and finally causes it to fail. My truck is a 96, I hope this helps you. Cheers

Howdy3315

I had similar problems. Great info on jumping across bc that'll Give you a place to start. I had 4 blown fuse able links in the wiring harness located on the drivers side front fender. Fixed those and haven't had an issue since. Happy hunting.

foxtrot

What do you mean by the power distribution pannel ?

I have a relay on my fender wall.

Rammin96

Pdp is on top of my LS fender wheel well inside the engine compartment. Fuse box housing all your relays etc. Not sure if its the same on your truck I have a 96, but try to find your starter relay and jump the contacts to see if she cranks over.

jimlj

I doubt it is the grid heaters. The truck will crank even if the heaters don't work, and should start with little problem down into the low 30's without them. Before you go spending money on parts, try jump starting it. Could be a dead battery.

foxtrot

I tried a different starter relay, a good one and same thing, just the click of the relay.
I took the starter out tested it according to the manual was ok I took some jumper cables hooked it up on the ground crossed a screw driver from the batt terminal to the solenoid terminal and it seened to work fine, I put it back in the truck, tied off the neutral saftey switch turned the key to run and coonected the two terminals on the starter agian, this time nothing, only some small sparks. Wondering if it could be the starter windings or something ??

I put a volt meter on the batt terminal and got 12.5 volts

then i put it on the solinoid terminal and when i turned the key i got 11.5 volts

dodgenstein

Sounds like starter contacts. When you had it out, you probably jarred it around and with no load, it got enough amps to spin.

foxtrot

When I had it out I took the plate off the back of the solinoid and they looked pretty good. It only a year old. Im going to take id down to get it bench tested, it has a lifetime warranty.

foxtrot

It was the starter, Pep boys lifetime warranty paid off again
hope this one lasts more than 1 year, this is the second one to fail sinc I bought the first one. First one lasted ahwile i think. Thanx for the help.

sooty

ive never replaced mine. but have sanded the contacts down to renew the connection, 327k still cranking, it takes only a click to get it started, not much duty for the starter