Intermittent slow crank

[hgeranium]

Battery is 8 months old. No idea on the starter but I’ve never personally replaced it. Over the past week the truck has been intermittently, but becoming more frequent, cranking very slow. It’s cranking like the battery is out of juice, but I know it’s not. I tested it with the meter and it’s a perfect 12.4. I’m worried it’s the starter itself because it’s going to take me a couple of days to source one. Could it be some grounding or resistance issue? Both battery terminals are tight and free of corrosion.
 

The truck will always end up starting up though. Sometimes it will go away and start up normally  

[hgeranium]

I would go through and check/clean all the grounds but I’m at work. I wanted to post this so I had a starting point for when I got off today and see what people say. If it’s not the starter itself, the most likely culprit I would imagine would be the ground cable on the starter itself. I’ve got a lot of oil leaking in the back, and the starter has plenty of gunk and oil on it. 
 

I also have not refreshed the dipstick tube ground yet, but I think that’s unlikely for this specific issue considering everything in the truck works perfectly other than the starter intermittently

[89 MJ]

I think you're on the right track. The starter side of the battery cable would be the first thing I would check.

[TheNerfsmith]

2 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

I think you're on the right track. The starter side of the battery cable would be the first thing I would check.

I would agree, although my starter issue was a really poor connection and you had to yank on the wire to get it to start. 

[hgeranium]

Welp. I found what was causing the slow crank but it is now unfortunately evolved into the starter not cranking at all. 

I cleaned the grounds on the starter. Then I traced the ground wire up to the battery and I saw it go to this flat five wire connector. Once I unplugged it and messed with it, the truck did not even crank. I noticed there were a few broken wires. I’m not sure if this is even related to the starter, but it’s definitely not good. I tried Jerry rigging them because I don’t have the tools or wiring equipment to do it right now, but I had no luck. I’m worried that there’s also a break somewhere in the harness. 
 

It’s also worth mentioning that when I first started, I accidentally arced my wrench on the starter ground because I stupidly forgot to disconnect the negative terminal. It could very well be that I fried the starter and I just happen to notice the broken wires now. 

[hgeranium]

Alright I’ve calmed down. Being n the sun and having that happen right before I had to go to work really put me in panic mode lol. I have my plan of attack for sure. Remove and test starter. Buy wires, heat shrink connectors, and a good crimpers. Properly rewire the connector regardless if it’s even related to the starter. I pray that the starter is just bad because if it’s good and that connector is not related to the starter, then I have no idea where to go from there.

[llhat]

that may be the connector to the NSS on the AW4 transmission... 

that could also cause a no-start 

you will probably need the wiring diagram eventually....

 

 

7way female.pdf 7way.pdf start.pdf

[hgeranium]

1 hour ago, llhat said:

that may be the connector to the NSS on the AW4 transmission... 

that could also cause a no-start 

you will probably need the wiring diagram eventually....

 

 

7way female.pdf 220.17 kB · 0 downloads 7way.pdf 249.02 kB · 0 downloads start.pdf 5.54 MB · 0 downloads

Woah good pickup! That definitely inspires me to fix that connector right. I just hope it’s those 2-3 exposed wires that are the problem and I don’t need to open the loop up for the remainders. That would explain why there’s not even so much as a click when I turn the key.

[hgeranium]

New toy acquired. This should make the wiring process much easier. One of my biggest pet peeves with wiring is using the crimpers that are in the handle of wire strippers. It was always so awkward and half the time I never got a thorough enough crimp to hold the wires. I know soldering is better but I don’t have the skills nor time to learn right now. I at least got heat shrink butt connectors which is better than just a crimp by itself

[hgeranium]

It looks like my mystery connector is C105. Page 90 of the harness views in the electrical manual states it's "engine to alternator". I don't think this alone would cause a no-crank, but will certainly cause charging issues so I must fix this anyways. I don't even hear the relay clicking when I turn the key. After I cleaned the grounds but before I messed with that connector, the truck still cranked and started but still was as slow as before. It was only after tracing the solenoid ground up to this connector that my jostling of it broke 2 of the wires and it stopped starting entirely. Since C105 seems unrelated to the starting procedure, I'm worried that I broke an important wire SOMEWHERE in the harness which means I'm in for hell in trying to find it. I'm not even sure where to start looking for relevant wiring. I suppose I just need to cut the loom open and look at all the wires for a break. I hope I'm totally wrong and this connector is indeed related to starting and it will at least return to slow crank after I patch it up.

[llhat]

sorry for that red herring on the NSS connector...  it looked 'right' from the image.

 

Did you click and open the PDF files i attached above..  the one named 'start' may be of assistance.

[hgeranium]

Quick update. I found a nick in time video looking at the starter relay and I think I might have a very solid lead. One of the wires is supposed to send a signal from the relay to the starter. Specifically the green one first column second row. Testing voltage on the terminal should net 12v upon turning the key. I’m getting a cool 0.4 volts! I suppose there’s a very good chance the relay just went bad and I just had very unfortunate timing with everything else. I’m going to try to source one today but I may have to order it online

[hgeranium]

C105 wires are fixed. Starter relay was cleaned. The soonest I’ll be able to get a new starter relay in from anywhere is on Friday. I tried shifting into gears back-and-forth to see if it was the NSS. I also hit the starter with a hammer. 
 

Still no luck. My only possible lead other than potentially wasting $150 on a starter is that one of the terminals on the relay seemed more burnt/corroded than the rest. They really can’t be that much more causing a no crank, right? It either has to be the starter, starter relay, the neutral safety switch, or the wiring somewhere within all of those. 
 

does anyone have a good writeup on  jumping the starter on a renix 4.0? I would like to try that before I buy a starter to make sure it actually starts. At least that way I can get around in the truck as I try to fix it. 

[llhat]

think covered in the PDF above  " start" ......  

[hgeranium]

4 hours ago, llhat said:

think covered in the PDF above  " start" ......  

Wow that PDF was a wealth of info. In testing the headlights dimming upon turning the key, the truck suddenly started to crank! It took forever but I actually got it to fire off. At this point I feel pretty confident that it has to be the starter with that slow crank.

[hgeranium]

I figured I might as well post a video so yall know what I’m dealing with. With the fact that I’m back to square one in terms of it just slow cranking again, I guess all I can do is wait for the relay and starter to come in and just install them for peace of mind at the very least. With how the starter sounds, it sounds less like that’s the problem more like a relay or ground but we will see. I tried the relay testing in that PDF and I couldn’t get anything to work. I’m not sure if it’s my crappy multimeter, I’m doing something wrong, or the relay is so far gone I can’t get any solid readings. 
 

side note: silver lining of all of this is finding that damaged C105 connector and fixing it plus my quartz clock suddenly works again! There was some ground cable that went to the firewall that lost contact with the negative battery terminal. Once I fixed that up I noticed the clock is back.

[hgeranium]

Fixed! I was really expecting this truck to make me go down a rabbit hole of following and fixing wires and grounds, but thank the Lord it was just the starter. The starter I pulled off had a Mitsubishi made in Japan sticker, so I bet it was the original. It starts like a completely different vehicle now.
 

Perfect timing too because this is officially my only vehicle again for the next month. 

[llhat]

glad it is back...

 

that video,  it would make me believe 'dragging starter' from days of yore.... wonder what the amperage draw was?

had to be 'up there' to pull down that much... no way it was creating enough engine rpm for the computer to detect and engage quickly

even though it 'caught' and ran at the end of video.