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Help! Truck won’t start! Gas 350

G

GoGoGirl

1/2 ton status
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Location
Vermont
If I can’t get this started I’m totally screwed. 1985 M1009 with gas 350 and 12 volts. Air temp is around -2 degrees and I have about 8 inches of snow that’s still coming down strong. Truck has started before in similar temps. Today all I get is a dull “thunk” sound when I turn the key.

I suspected the starter could be frozen so I heated it for 20 minutes with a heat gun but no luck. Tried jumping it but nada. Heated starter again and banged on it, still nothing.

I’m thinking the sound I hear when I turn the key is a relay or switch somewhere...?

Any ideas?
 
Are you saying that you tried jump starting the truck, or jumping the starter?
I am wondering if you have a bad connection in a battery cable that you may be able to bypass with jumper cables. And if you are jump starting it with another vehicle, have you hooked the ground to the engine? This could possibly bypass a poor ground cable.
 
If your not getting good voltage at the starter, the solenoid won't engage the armature to the flywheel.
Look at this diagram. pre-engaged-starter.png

The pinion gear needs to engage the flywheel. Alot of starters won't engage that little gear without at least 12.4 volts.

Most likely your hearing the solenoid thunk, but it's not actually engaging.
 
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Interesting, thank you all.

I meant I tried to jumpstart the vehicle at the battery with another vehicle.

I just left my heat gun propped up and shooting at the starter for about 15 minutes but that didn’t change a thing.

Not sure what else I can do with the starter. I’m not very mechanically-inclined and still learning all this stuff.
 
GoGoGirl said:
Interesting, thank you all.

I meant I tried to jumpstart the vehicle at the battery with another vehicle.

I just left my heat gun propped up and shooting at the starter for about 15 minutes but that didn’t change a thing.

Not sure what else I can do with the starter. I’m not very mechanically-inclined and still learning all this stuff.
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How long you leave the other vehicle hooked up?
Sometimes it take awhile depending on how big your jumper cables are.

I assume it's an automatic transmission?
 
Automatic, yes, TH350.

I hooked up the other vehicle for just a couple minutes or so. I used a 15 amp charger to top off the K5 battery yesterday so I was thinking the battery wasn’t the problem.

Thank you very much.
 
Could be your battery connections as @6872xtc pointed out.

Are your battery cables tight? Is there any green corrosion around them? Did you get a good connection on the jumper cables. Make to to wiggle them to "seat" them once connected. If the vehicle jumping the blazer has a gauge, you should be able to see a slight voltage drop on that vehicle.
 
Unfortunately, the battery could still be the problem. If it is not good anymore, the charger may not have been able to put much into it. And if you have small gauge jumper cables, it would be difficult to get enough amperage to the truck to crank it. And if the connections of the battery cables are not great, that's one more obstacle.
If your jumper cables are a small gauge, which would be a higher number, it can take 30 minutes or so to get enough power to crank it up, if the battery will take a charge, and is down.
Do the headlights shine brightly? That can tell you if you have a power problem too. If they are dim with just the battery in the M1009 powering them, then it could prove that you have either a low battery or poor connection. Then you can hook up the jumper cables and see if they get brighter.
 
Another option is swap the battery from the other vehicle and see if it starts then. That removes your battery from the equation entirely. If it starts you know it was your battery that was the problem. Otherwise there can be too many variables with the jump start to help pin point the actual trouble.
 
Also try hooking the ground cable of the jumpers to the engine somehow. You may be able to find clean metal somewhere away from the gas line and belts, to bypass the ground cable from the battery. If no difference that way, it should confirm a good ground cable.
If your jumper cables will let you, hook the ground to the starter mounting bolt. Or just try grounding the starter back to the battery with the jumper cables. You can try to use the jumper cables to connect power to the starter power terminal, but it is tricky to hook a large clamp onto it.
 
tRustyK5 said:
Another option is swap the battery from the other vehicle and see if it starts then. That removes your battery from the equation entirely. If it starts you know it was your battery that was the problem. Otherwise there can be too many variables with the jump start to help pin point the actual trouble.
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Unless it's a post and terminal. Then that won't work unless she has some adapters.
 
Thanks you all. I’ve tried everything mentioned regarding the battery but no luck. What I haven’t done is playing around with the starter anymore. Just tried heating it up and banging on it for the second time but nothing different happened. It’s just me here with nobody else to crank the engine. Neighbors aren’t close by and are useless, I’ve already asked! Time to bite the bullet and hire a landscape company or something, I need to be able to get out as I’m on call for work.
 
GoGoGirl said:
Thanks you all. I’ve tried everything mentioned regarding the battery but no luck. What I haven’t done is playing around with the starter anymore. Just tried heating it up and banging on it for the second time but nothing different happened. It’s just me here with nobody else to crank the engine. Neighbors aren’t close by and are useless, I’ve already asked! Time to bite the bullet and hire a landscape company or something, I need to be able to get out as I’m on call for work.
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Whenever you get a minute, post up any pictures of the battery, battery cables, starter connections and your plow connections.
It being a plow truck.... alot of plow trucks have some pretty hack stuff going on due to the large demands on the electrical system.
Also stop by your local auto parts store or some improvement store and buy a cheap analog volt/amp meter. It will only set you back 15 bucks or less. Then you know what it is, 12 volts or such.

Any pics you have, will help us help you get it going in the coming days.
 
That sucks. Wish that we could help more, especially since the government is not doing what they should, and that hurts your bank account.
I always like to help when someone is interested in learning, but it's difficult to do mechanical teaching through text.
 
Good point @beags86 . I have used harbor freight meters before, and they do a good enough job for lots of things. But a better one is preferable.
 
I've seen this happen up here.
People come up to 9,000 feet through the snow and park their trucks.
40 degree temperature difference from town to here.
Near feezing in town and below 0 up here.
Driving through the slush, it gets into the starter solenoid or inspection plate and onto the ring gear.
They try to leave a few days later and "click, thunk".
No start.
I highly suspect the cold snap has frozen moisture in either your solenoid or ring gear.
Are you by chance missing the inspection plate that covers your torque converter?
Happens a lot with swaps.
Keep heat on it.
It can take a long time once all that metal gets cold.
Many hours.
 
Minor update. Co-worker who knows what he’s doing stopped by. Brought all kinds of electrical test stuff beyond just a multimeter. He said the Bendix is moving properly but the starter isn’t engaging. All power, batteries, and wires appear fine. He recommended waiting for warmer weather to see if it will start, at which point I probably need a new starter if it doesn’t.
 
GoGoGirl said:
Minor update. Co-worker who knows what he’s doing stopped by. Brought all kinds of electrical test stuff beyond just a multimeter. He said the Bendix is moving properly but the starter isn’t engaging. All power, batteries, and wires appear fine. He recommended waiting for warmer weather to see if it will start, at which point I probably need a new starter if it doesn’t.
Click to expand...
Yea, if the bendix doesn't fully engage, it won't make contact and allow current to flow from the battery + through the windings of the starter and back to ground.
If you concentrate heat on the bendix itself, you may get it thawed out.
A plumbers torch is really what is needed but you need to be damn careful.
Better not to use open flame around gasoline engines.
I have done it though it is VERY dangerous.
Hopefully warmer weather will rectify the problem.
 
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