Hey all, How many of you, and how many times have you chased a problem, went down the rabbit hole only to come full circle for an obvious solution. Here's my tail chasing scenario, Last year swapped in a 318 into my truck. Cousin of mine has lots of Mopar parts, has rebuilt starters and alts for years. So I buy for next to nothing a heavy duty starter motor. Once I had engine in truck, starter hangs up and is intermittent. I go for a drive and shut off engine, short time later go to fire up truck and big pop sound and smoke under hood. Wire from starter relay is fried. I then suspect relay (its an old used from cousin) and starter works. Next day starter aint doin nothing. Cousin gives me another starter, it works good, well at first. Then I was click click when I would hit key. So I start testing my 7 year old battery, it still has 650 CC amps, hmmm. Buy a new battery for good measure, again click click bullshit...lol I then replace battery cables even though mine are very decent yet. Same clicking starter. Same cousin gives me a used starter right off an old truck, greasy and ugly. Works well, a bit slow on cranking but no issues, a lot of cranking for fuel if truck not driven a few days. Last month I order a 50 dollar AC Delco starter from Rock, spins way faster, no hot start slow cranks and easy starts when truck sat for days. Now why didnt I buy a new starter right off the bat....duh Share your thoughts and stories..
The only thing I see you tested was the battery which tested good, but you still replaced it. Doing a quick voltage drop test would have led you directly to the starter. You loaded the "parts cannon" and began firing. However, I have done the same thing at various times over the years. My 57 Bird had a high frequency, low amplitude vibration around 55 mph. It was almost a moan at that speed. Because of the high frequency I was convinced that it had something to do with the driveline. Fiddled with driveline angles, replaced u-joints, but I never changed the vibration. One of the T-Bird suppliers came up with a clutch fan setup for the little Birds. They are notorious for running warm in stop and go traffic. I pulled the flex fan that had been on the car since I purchased it and put the new clutch fan on. Unexpectedly, my moan/vibration at 55 mph was gone.
Truth be told on battery at 7 years old was on borrowed time. On a voltage drop test yes. But a starter that fries a wire to relay may be a little suspect.... Both starters were bench tested and deemed good. Byt they waz real bad...lol
Next time you're replacing a starter on a mopar try one for a 90s Dakota or Ram V6 or 318. You may need to mess with the ends of the wires slightly but the starter it worth the effort. I started using them thirty years ago and they work great, smaller with the ability to spin over my big blocks no problem.
I'll add to the story, I'd built a new motor for the 38 Chevy, 327, Howards roller cam, Cloyes adjustable timing chain, new rings bearings, new bored block and pistons. It wouldn't run, it would start OK but not RPM, I fired up the parts cannon (love that phrase) tried a new carburetor, intake manifold, nothing, tried a new distributor and wires, NADA. I'd bent valves (which should have told me something). I ended up cutting reliefs in the pistons and it still wouldn't run right. I finally decided that maybe I should check the cam/crankshaft relationship. Pulled the front clip so I could get at the front of the engine, got the timing cover off...........yep, I hadn't paid attention to the marks on the fancy Cloyes adjustable timing set My own damn fault for not paying attention That engine didn't leak when I first started it but it has leaks now from all of the disassembly/assembly. I used the left over parts from that fiasco on the Studebaker (intake/carb/distributor/plug wires) so I didn't have to buy those!! I am old enough to know better!!!
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