nickg

I just re-read your post that said you checked the batterys with a Voltmeter, what exactly do you mean?? did you check for voltage or do a load test?

infidel

A voltmeter doesn't tell you squat, they have to be load tested.

Bluedually4x4

It tells me voltage, if my two batterys are at 2 amps it would pull a larger charge from dad's mega cab while the two trucks are hooked up. So that tells me my batterys are charged. Also if 3200 cold cranking amps from 4 batterys cannot start it than the starter is gone. Acting the same way the other starters did when they failed.
It is not even one month into 09 and I will have spent over a thousand just trying to keep this **** thing running. The lesson I have learned is I should have kept my toyota truck.

nickg

A voltage check only tells you the condition of charge

12.8= full charged batterys
12.6= 3/4 charged
12.4= 1/2 charged
12.2= technically dead batterys

You can have a fully charged battery that will fail a load test (even new a battery) 12.8V means nothing until you put a load on the battery and then note the voltage reading!!
so lets say for arguements sake you have a couple of bad batterys, and you get a boost from someone, the bad batterys will not necessarly draw the charge down on the boosting veh, because they are not dead. The problem is they drop voltage like mad as soon as you put a load on them. so until a load is placed on them they wont draw any amps from the boosting truck. When you try to start the boosted truck the boosting truck is trying to "fill" two bad batterys and crank over an engine.

Now if you had hooked your multimeter to the truck batterys and watched how much the voltage had dropped while attempting to start you would have a much clearer idea of what was happening. If the voltage dropped ,9V or less I'd say there was alot of resistance(bad starter/cables etc) if it stayed around battery voltage I'd be looking for loose connections/ bad relay contacts.

Likely by the time you read this you will have your starter back and all will be good. but if your truck is eating starters there is a problem somewhere, Mine has 413,000kms on the orginal and I know its normal for them to last a lot longer.

Heres something for you to check: are your battery ends soldered to the copper lugs?? if so during hi amp loads the solder actually melts causing a huge resistance(poor connection) and after your finished cranking it hardens again. Its very hard to troubleshoot. that is why you should not solder battery connections crimping is the perfered method
good luck

Dinner

Agreed!!!

Hopefully it is just his contacts and plunger in the starter, they are cheap and easy to repair yourself!

Junkdude

Whacking with a hammer fix usually means bad contact with the brushes to the commutator or the main contactor is worn away. Something could be contaminating the starters. Oil or fuel leaks, dust or water, salt spray.

Bluedually4x4

Haven't done anything yet, work has been hell this week and with no garage I really have not felt like laying in the snow to pull the starter out. The truck has had a great many electrical problems and getting the money to fix them has been a real pain lol. I would hope the batterys are good, they are only a year old, and with new factory wires should get a good charge, unless the PCM is crapping out and not regulating the voltage like it should.