I've had it, I am trowing the towel

BhB

Member
I have 1991 GMC k1500 that I will use to go to tractor shows. I bought it in March and having been fixing all the little things. Several times when I have driven it to the store it won't start at the store. Nothing, no clicking from the starter solenoid, the battery voltage will read 12 volts with the switch turned to start. Also the snow plow motor will run and lift and the headlights will remain bright. I have cleaned the battery cables, replaced the broken ground wires to the frame and cab. If I jump it from another vehicle it starts right up. Turn it off and starts every time. I believe the wife is tired of coming to get me, her comment was, I don't know you take that thing, or something like that.

Thank you in advance, Bill
 
Could be the starter brushes are worn down into the plastic holders. Sometimes a slight jar will make them contact and start.

Also could be the solenoid getting tired. Some of those used a heat shield between the solenoid and the manifold, could be missing, especially if it is a hot start problem.

Have you tried moving the shifter to neutral? Could be the neutral switch out of adjustment.

And there can be battery cable problems, corroded, loose. The battery itself.

The only way to know for sure is to carry a test light and catch it in the act.
 
Give up, if you want, but in the realm of serious vehicle issues, things like this are pretty minor!

12 volts is pretty low, your battery MAY be old and/or have a weak cell, or the charging system may not be bringing the battery to full charge.

Then, by the time the voltage travels through the key switch, neutral start switch and wiring there's even less voltage to pull in the solenoid.

Then, you connect up a running vehicle with the battery charged up to 14 Volts and it starts.

Check charging voltage, check battery condition, clean and tighten electrical connections involved in all this, and, lastly, install a fender.mounted relay or solenoid to switch full battery voltage to the started solenoid when the key is turned to "START".

This is a basic diagram, but your starter solenoid will look a little different than the one drawn, and wire colors will be different.

<img src = "http://type2.com/bartnik/images/relay.gif">
 
I agree with Steve on the first count. Look at those brushes. Carry a hammer with you and if it doesn't start whack the starter. If it does it's brushes for sure.
 
Have a truck that does the exact thing. If you drop it to neutral will it start? Mine has an out of adjustment shifter and didn't always click into park. The tranny is in park but the safety switch doesn't always click. It does the same thing in the state fine when jumped. Worth a try. My driveway is a slight slope, never happens there, but often when parking someplace flat. I can also get it to work if I force the shifter up while I crank.
 
I've done Bob's solution to quite a few trucks of that vintage to get the starters to work when hot. Newer trucks came with a relay system in the starter circuit.
 
Had a 95 Chevy k1500 do something similar. Look at Bob's diagram, the bottom nut on the solenoid where power goes into starter was loose.
 
(quoted from post at 13:35:14 07/25/16) I have 1991 GMC k1500 that I will use to go to tractor shows. I bought it in March and having been fixing all the little things. Several times when I have driven it to the store it won't start at the store. Nothing, no clicking from the starter solenoid, the battery voltage will read 12 volts with the switch turned to start. Also the snow plow motor will run and lift and the headlights will remain bright. I have cleaned the battery cables, replaced the broken ground wires to the frame and cab. If I jump it from another vehicle it starts right up. Turn it off and starts every time. I believe the wife is tired of coming to get me, her comment was, I don't know you take that thing, or something like that.

Thank you in advance, Bill

I've got a '91 Chevy K1500 that started no matter what and then, one day, nothin'. I
cleaned the battery connections and tried whacking the starter while SIL tried to start it - nothin'. Checked the battery with a multi-meter and hydrometer - bought a new battery and replaced the positive batt. cable that looked a bit ragged - nothin'. So, put on a new (rebuilt) starter and it started and ran. That makes the 4th new battery I've bought for the 'rolling stock' around here since the weather turned cold last fall and I've got 2 more to buy for a Ford E150 that I will sell as soon as I get it running again! :shock: When it rains, it pours!
 
The battery is less then 2 years old it is an Auto Zone battery. I took it to Auto Zone to have it checked they said nothing wrong with it. I am going to take the starter off and check the brushes and solenoid. I tried starting in neutral and park and moving the shifter when holding the key on start nothing. After I was home I walked behind the truck and noticed the tail pipe hanging down, something else to fix. If it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck.
 
I had a 92 K35 that acted like that, slow starting or sometimes no start when warm. I finally found it when I noticed I could still move the cable side terminals, even when the battery bolts were very tight.

I discovered that the battery bolts were bottoming out in the battery before the cables were tight. I added a grease covered flat washer between the cable and battery terminal which took up enough space to clamp the cables tight before the bolts bottomed out in the battery. It cranked fast every time, hot or cold after that fix.
Others with trucks from that year range tell me of finding the same problem, battery bolts bottom out before the cable gets tight. Must of been a bad batch of cables.
 
An electrical problem is one of the most difficult and frustrating problems to find and fix. Fortunately after decades of searching I've found a mechanic that can work on a car so I no longer have to fight problems like that anymore.
 
Ya you "whack" that starter and you will not go anywhere. Many new starters have permanent magnetic fields in them. Just be sure of your type.
 
My '91 Chevy k1500 started doing that back in the spring.

Right now I have an extra circuit wired from the battery+ into the cab with a pushbutton starter switch on it. From there to the S post on the solenoid. When it pulls that stunt, I just reach down, press the button and I am rolling. It usually happens to me when the engine is hot.

What Bob shows would work too. There was actually a buletin for Chevy Astro vans for that repair back in the mid '80s. Your start circuit is just not providing enough current to work the starter solenoid when its hot any more.
 
my 89 K1500 pulled a similar trick. turned out the stud from the block where the negative battery cable was attached to was loose- the nut was tight to the cable, but the whole stud was not grounding out. acted just like a completely dead battery. found that after R/R starter and alternator and battery. saw it spark one night...
 
wire going thru the bottom of the distributor may be rubbed bare & shorting out when hot, then when it cools, contracts away from the distributor plate until next time it gets hot. Had that happen once.
 
Wow! There is always something new to learn every day. After 26 years as a professional mechanic I've never seen or heard of that. I didn't even know they discovered magnetism back in '91. Maybe you could explain in a bit more detail.
 

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