no crank, lots of clicking

Jerryhagen

rpm goes to 3k for a sec with a lot of clicking when i turn the key on
then goes between 1000 and 750 like its chopping at idle. speed of clicking matches rpm
no crank, clicking stops when i try to crank
what did i do wrong

Axel-Breaker-Earl

Well.......tell us what you DID. Maybe then we will have an idea. What work have you done to your engine recently?

Jerryhagen

Axel-Breaker-Earl unplugged the og 92 engine and plugged in a 91 engine. 91 engine ran when pulled. og engine had bent valve but still ran before i took it apart. everything is new except the vacuum operated stuff, which all worked fine before. truck ran with current sensors, plugs, etc before taking it apart and everything is back in its spot after an upper intake swap. just a few minutes ago i replaced a ground wire for fun, guess that was bad. the tach doesnt move around anymore. still no crank. battery was new a few days ago, guess ill charge it again anyways and update. starter is wired up correctly assuming the wires arent crossed inside the loom. i did notice a new starter online is grounded to itself, that is not the case on my starter. theres both a ground and a positive from the battery to the starter on my truck, is this unusual?

Cusser

Jerryhagen i did notice a new starter online is grounded to itself, that is not the case on my starter. theres both a ground and a positive from the battery to the starter on my truck, is this unusual?

Jerry - I find your posts quite difficult to understand. But a starter solenoid terminal - either the large one for the positive cable, or the smaller one from the ignition switch should NOT be shorted to the starter case (should not be zero resistance, or less than 1 ohm).

Jerryhagen

Cusser

Jerry - how does that picture of a starter help me to help you?????? I %#$^U&$$##@@#$&^*#$@ know what a starter looks like !!!

Jerryhagen

Cusser 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.

Cusser

Jerryhagen you said my posts were confusing

They were !

Jerryhagen was just hoping to clarify my earlier posts by showing a new starter for my truck that is grounded to itself.

"Might help" if you use something like Paint function to show what two spots you measured such grounding to itself. Remember - we're not there with you, and we have no idea what level of knowledge and experience you have. If one of the three terminals on the solenoid ground to metal body, that's bad. But there should be measurable ohms resistance.

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

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.

lizardkingjr

Thread delivers. Would read again!

Cusser

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

Maybe this diagram will help

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.