no crank, lots of clicking

lizardkingjr

Thread delivers. Would read again!

Jerryhagen

Cusser i said i was confused on why the new starters look like that, as mine doesn't. so i guess problem solved if it shouldnt be. took the starter out and it works. when tested. going to have to take apart the loom and see if the wires are bad. terminals get hot but no crank.

Cusser

Note that starters for 5-speed trucks are different than those for automatic trucks.

Maybe this diagram will help

Axel-Breaker-Earl

Jerryhagen you said my posts were confusing, stating the starter should not be grounded to itself. i was just hoping to clarify my earlier posts by showing a new starter for my truck that is grounded to itself.

That WIRE that came on the new starter in your picture.......is not a ground wire. It is the positive wire from the starter motor, to the Solenoid. The Starter is grounded from being bolted to the engine that is also grounded.

Slightly forward from the Starter, on the engine-to-transmission brace (or the engine Block), there is a heavy gauge Grounding wire that leads back up to the battery.

Jerryhagen

Axel-Breaker-Earl okay. its cranks now. blew up the muffler. triple checked timing. diagnostic plug on the passenger firewall puts out a solid light, no blinking. i cant find specs for sensors to start ohming them out, am i just missing them in the manual? is there where else i should be checking for a bad ground? motor is grounded to the firewall at the back.

Axel-Breaker-Earl

Jerryhagen blew up the muffler.

Please explain.......exactly what happened to "blow up the muffler"

If you were cranking your engine over, and it backfired and blew the muffler open, then your ignition timing is not correct. Your engine is flooding the exhaust with fuel and when the engine backfires, it will ignite the raw fuel sitting in the exhaust.

Jerryhagen

Axel-Breaker-Earl yes it happened while cranking. everything im seeing says to EITHER have the engine at tdc, OR at 5 btdc- then set the distributor in so that the rotor points to cylinder 1. ive tried both, and get the same result. (no start, sometimes a backfire when cranking, not every time) is this not the correct way to set timing? there doesnt seem to be a bad ground in the wires going to the distributor. ive tried two different brand new distributors and nothing changed. the wires are new.

MazdaMitch

Jerryhagen this forum is just a side dish to this website so use the search on this website type in timing and you will find tons of documents about timing these motors.

Once a distributor is pulled it is not always easy to get it back in correctly you could be a tooth off either way and it could cause a lot of havoc.

Jerryhagen

MazdaMitch yes i know, this forum is how i found the timing guide in the workshop manual. and yes, ive tried moving it a tooth either way, with both distributors i have. if my last motor wasnt a unicorn, these motors can run a tooth off. this isnt even starting, so im doubting timing is the issue.

MazdaMitch

Jerryhagen it can run a tooth off but your distributor will be maxed out to get it to run correctly.

Maxed out means it'll be all the way to the front or all the way to the rear.

No room for adjustment

MazdaMitch

Jerryhagen as you turn it over have you confirmed that there is spark at the end of the spark plug wire??

If it's not it's probably ignition control module.

Jerryhagen

MazdaMitch either bad coil or bad connection. pulled coil and the plug broke in the process. replaced the plug, put in a different (junkyard) coil and it fired right up and ran great. so to recap, my issues causing this thread were: crusty ground cable, crusty coil plug OR crusty coil, and not knowing how a starter works.

Axel-Breaker-Earl

Jerry, did you make sure that when you set the engine to TDC to install the distributor......that you were on the Compression stroke? Very important! Engine will not run if the distributor was installed when the engine was on the exhaust stroke.
The Camshaft rotates once for every TWO rotations of the Crankshaft......so if you don't verify that you are on the Compression stroke when installing the distributor........then you have only a 50% chance that you installed the distributor correctly!

To verify that you are on the compression stroke........remove the #1 spark plug. Cover the spark plug hole with your thumb, or screw a compression gauge into the #1 spark plug hole, and rotate the engine by hand (this is easier with ALL spark plugs removed) until you feel pressure trying to push your thumb off of the #1 spark plug hole......or the compression gauge needle starts to move showing cylinder pressure.
Then continue to slowly rotate the engine by hand until you align the harmonic balancer pulley mark to the ZERO mark on the timing cover scale.

If didn't pull the distributor, look at the rotor and verify that it is pointing to the 9:00 o'clock position when viewed from standing at the driver's fender. IF the distributor is pointing somewhere else......like the 3:00 o'clock position......you installed the distributor incorrectly!