I changed the main seal and oil pan gasket the other day. Since I have a lift I just had to remove the starter and jack a little to get the pan out.

I went to put it all back together and everything went well. I was unable to fully tighten the upper starter bolt since the aluminum is getting a little stripped, but it was clearly tight and flush with the mounting area.

It started right up and I ran it for a couple minutes to circulate the new oil. I turned it off and left it for 15 min or so.

I came back, checked the oil, added a little more and then went to start it again. Click.

Click. Click. Nothing. wtf?

So I checked the battery with my multimeter. 13 volts and change

I took the starter out and used jumper cables and a jumper wire to check the starter. It works great on the bench.

I put it back in, this time with a little loctite on that iffy bolt.

Went to start it, turned it on.... power looked good, everything working... then I turned it to start it and Click, everything went dead. Dead. Won't turn on at all. Just like before.

What in the world is this? I don't know jack about electrical but is this some kind of short in the wires somewhere? Thanks

Oh, and I was a little freaked out that maybe the engine got seized somehow. So, I took my breaker bar with a socket and turned it over manually. I didn't have room to turn it all the way over, but it turned easily back and forth and I could hear the pistons moving.

I am soooo stuck on this one.

 

Clean where the starter meets the housing. Ground failure can happen there. See that the (inner) from the solonoid is putten 12 to the starter it's self, (Key over). And>>>


Battery gasses have a nasty habit of helping a thin, hard crust form on the bat post's and clamps. They can look pretty good, but that micro-thin layer is a surprisingly good insulator. SHINNY! Lead is what you want. I use a pocket knife, (gently), for the insides of the clamps. For the posts I might use one of those post cleaner wire brushes, but still scrape it with a blade. If you have a condition where you have power, (dash lights ect.), then when you hit it power goes out altogether, that's a common result of a layer of oxidization there. Btw, a half *** connection could be expected to get hot during cranking, or while it's trying. Cleaning those is something to do now and then anyway, so if you are having starting problems, you might want to make sure you have bare lead on lead. Might save you some grief!

 

Voltage confirms continuity but gives no clue about whether the battery has adequate amps to spin the starter. I would have the battery load tested to start with and if okay, do a full charge.

Did you try to jump start it with the starter mounted on the engine. If that doesn't work, likely you have dirty connections and/or starter not making good contact with the frame mounting surfaces.

Edit: Cross post with DFlintstone.

 

forgot to mention I had cleaned the battery terminals nuts already... thanks tho.

Here's something even weirder... I just went to check it and it started! Now I'm really confused. I hope it keeps starting. I hate electrical problems. Give me an oily mess any day. Thanks guys.

 

Turned out to be a bad battery. But even the new one wouldn't start it until I took apart the terminals and cleaned the exposed wires until they were shiny. Same happened about 5 years ago and we totally forgot.

 

Glad she's goen! Sounds like the original battery might have worked, but it's nice to know its good.