Last month I had a " no crank " situation.

Did the tests and determined the starter was probably bad. Pulled the start and tested it on the bench and it worked so I cleaned up the connectors reinstalled it. It worked, so the assumption was that the connector were dirty and had built up a resistance.

Here we are today, again with the no crank problem. However this time there was another symptom exhibited prior to the no crank symptom. All day the starter seemed to crank slow, almost as if the motor had not fired on that rotation it would have stopped cranking.

Again I went under, removed the wiring to make sure I cleaned it all off. Reconnected it and no crank.

I decided to 'jump' the starter from under the vehicle. The first three attempts lead to a 'spark' when the connectors were jumped by no cranking. Then it finally cranked.

I got into the vehicle and attempted to start the vehicle with the key and it started, but still it was cranking slowly as if it was really struggling.


Battery is only 2 years old, and the volt meter in the vehicle gave me no sign of a low voltage situation except for the normal drop when cranking.

Is this normal ----> ( I noted that the larger terminal screw on the starter was loose and you could wiggle it around a bit )

Should I be looking at a new starter?


Thanks.

 

Yes. New starter time. What probably happening is the coils that create the magnetic field needed to turn the motor are shorting out and not giving you enough energy to turn the motor over.
I used to see it a lot, when you bench tested it, it would spin like mad but when you put a load on it (like turning over your motor) it would just heat up.
I myself once went through several new batteries and an alternator thinking there was nothing wrong with the starter. WRONG. As soon as I replaced it my problems went away.