- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
- Messages
- 134
- Reaction score
- 40
- Points
- 28
- Location
- Connecticut
- Vehicle Year
- 1989
- Make / Model
- Bronco ii
- Engine Type
- 2.9 V6
- Engine Size
- 2.9L
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
- Total Lift
- 6
So here goes, last week I was driving my Bronco to pick up some lumber, as one does on a Sunday afternoon. The truck started a little weak but drove to the lumber yard fine. I place my order and go out to leave....CLICK..no crank. So after an hour of messing with the truck and sweating to death in the heat I called a tow truck. So my first thought was maybe a bad battery right or dead battery, jump boxes, cables etc and still nothing. So I checked my solenoid and I had 12 in and 12 out when cranking...ok great I have power where I should have power. So I went about making new cables for positive and negative connections off the battery. From battery to solonoid, from solonoid to starter, from battery to ground, etc etc you get the point. By the end of it the entire ignition system had new wires but I had my suspicions about the starter. So it was wired up but still laying on the crossmember not bolted to the tranny yet. So I drank a beer, crossed my finger and....CLICK nothing. So I got about making jumpers to bypass some of the wires and at one point got the starter to move, but I couldn’t recreate it no matter what I did. Finally I grounded the body of the starter with a jumper to a ground connection and away she went, good as new. So I got to thinking, is it that the starter won’t complete the circuit unless it is bolted into the tranny using it as a ground? I know the tranny is aluminum so I just disregarded this but I keep coming back to it. Also I should mention my battery connection were..how should I put it..basically a fire waiting to happen. Now that all that is brandy new and the starter is bolted in, the truck runs better than ever. I’m wondering if the CLICK was just a bad ground initially. The starter also would grind just after the engine fired from time to time which was odd as the whole drivetrain is new (300 miles on it) and now the grinding is miraculously gone as well as the starter being much quieter when cranking. Could the grinding and no start be attributed to bad connections and poor voltage effecting the bendix gear? Ide love to hear your thoughts