Trouble starting. Battery not to blame, help diagnosing sound (video attached)

[Kegworth]

Hey all!

Just randomly my truck won't start. I hooked it up to a 6amp / 12v charger for 24 hrs and battery appears to be full and ready, i get all lights at full capacity but when i go to crank, i get silence and a bit of a crying noise?

Any help appreciated! Link to video below:

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[RonD]

Make sure you are in Park

Open the hood and locate Starter Relay(often called starter solenoid) on inner fender

It will have two larger post and 1 or 2 smaller posts

One of the larger post will have Battery Positive cable on it, along with several other wires, just FYI this is the Power Distribution post for the whole vehicle, if it uses 12volts is connected here, EXCEPT for the starter motor

The other larger post will just have 1 larger cable, it goes to starter motor

Only 1 of the smaller posts(if there are 2) will have a wire on it, a red/blue wire usually, this is the "S" post, it WILL have an "S" next to it, have a look

Starter relay can look like this one: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170801/4a27505daae724d07a59c040d781d11f.jpg

The red push on/pull off connector is on the "S" post in picture
Pull it off

Use a short jumper wire from Battery Positive post to "S" post, starter motor should activate

If you just hear a "CLICK" but no starter motor then most likely the starter is bad
If there is no "CLICK" then starter relay is bad(or its ground to inner fender is rusted out)

If you get the "CLICK" and start motor works then the Red/blue wire is not working, the "S" wire

When you turn the key to START the ignition switch send 12volts on the red/blue wire to starter relay to activate it, just like you did with jumper wire
But............that 12volts also has to pass thru the NSS(neutral safety switch) on the drivers side of transmission
Its just above the shifter

If you have a 12v test light or volt meter you can test if the red/blue wire at the starter relay has 12volts with key turned to START

 

[Kegworth]

Make sure you are in Park

Open the hood and locate Starter Relay(often called starter solenoid) on inner fender

It will have two larger post and 1 or 2 smaller posts

One of the larger post will have Battery Positive cable on it, along with several other wires, just FYI this is the Power Distribution post for the whole vehicle, if it uses 12volts is connected here, EXCEPT for the starter motor

The other larger post will just have 1 larger cable, it goes to starter motor

Only 1 of the smaller posts(if there are 2) will have a wire on it, a red/blue wire usually, this is the "S" post, it WILL have an "S" next to it, have a look

Starter relay can look like this one: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170801/4a27505daae724d07a59c040d781d11f.jpg

The red push on/pull off connector is on the "S" post in picture
Pull it off

Use a short jumper wire from Battery Positive post to "S" post, starter motor should activate

If you just hear a "CLICK" but no starter motor then most likely the starter is bad
If there is no "CLICK" then starter relay is bad(or its ground to inner fender is rusted out)

If you get the "CLICK" and start motor works then the Red/blue wire is not working, the "S" wire

When you turn the key to START the ignition switch send 12volts on the red/blue wire to starter relay to activate it, just like you did with jumper wire
But............that 12volts also has to pass thru the NSS(neutral safety switch) on the drivers side of transmission
Its just above the shifter

If you have a 12v test light or volt meter you can test if the red/blue wire at the starter relay has 12volts with key turned to START

Thank you for the detailed response Ron!

So i jumped the + to the s-post and here's the sound i'm getting. Interesting, because its neither of the expected sounds you mentioned, neither click, nor nothing. Its like a repeating click, sounds like something is engaging. But no need to explain, just check out the video:

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[RonD]

It sounds like the starter relay is bad or connection to 12v and ground are marginal

I would disconnect Positive battery terminal at the battery
Then remove and clean the 2 grounding bolts on starter relay base, you can see 1 in the video, top right, it may only have the one

Make sure it has a good bare metal ground to the inner fender on that plate and bolt, clean the bolts as well

Bolt it back up and try jumping again

A relay has a coil of wire around a metal rod, when the coil has 12v("S") and Ground(plate/bolt) that metal rod turns into a magnet(electro-magnet) and that magnet pulls down a metal Bar which, in this application, connects the two larger posts together to send battery volts(AMPs) to starter motor

If you still get the click, click, click that means the relays coil can not hold the metal Bar closed, the CLICK is the relay working but its either weak magnetic force, bad 12v or ground, or bad coil
i.e. for weak magnetic force, when your battery gets old it loses AMPs and Volts, starter motor draws the most AMPs, 60+ AMPs(headlights and fan draw maybe 10amp)
Say battery volts are 12.1v, too low, when you activate starter relay, starter motor will draw 60 AMPs and battery volts drop down under 10volts, say 9.5v
And this 9.5v reduces the Holding power of the starter relays coil, so it clicks when activated and then clicks again when volts drop to 9.5v, and it opens, then clicks again because Bar disconnected and volts are 12.1v again, then clicks again because volts are 12.1v, then clicks again because volts are 9.5v again, ect...........
click, click, click, click, because ii has 12v then it doesn't, then it has 12v and then it doesn't..........

After cleaning the ground lets test if starter motor is working
I see you have jumper cables, so use that to connect battery positive to the Starter motor cable, larger post on starter relay with just the one cable, the red cable in your video
Starter motor should activate if its OK

Reason for this test and relay explanation above, is that a bad starter motor can draw too many AMPs
If that happens then you get the higher voltage drop(under 10volts) and the click, click, click
You can also have volt meter on battery to watch how low the voltage goes, should stay above 10volts

If starter motor works then I would get a new starter relay
Clean each wire end with wire brush or ?? before putting it on new relays post
That one post is the power distribution post for whole vehicle
Also clean starter motors cable end
And clean battery terminals and cables ends

Anytime battery volts get to 12.3volts battery is done, 5 to 6 years old and time to shop for battery sales, next COLD morning will get the Click, Click, Click
New battery is 12.8volts, can be 13.0volts just off the shelf
After 3 years its 12.5volts

A starter motor in good condition will cause battery volts to drop 2.0 to 2.2volts approx., in winter same starter would need more AMPs so 2.6volts drop