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Truck won't start in cold, have a new battery


ben_cline

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
6
City
Quincy, IL
Vehicle Year
1988
Transmission
Manual
My truck won't start when it gets around 40 degrees or especially colder. I bought a new battery, and I still have trouble starting it, no better than before. It will crank slowly for 10-20 seconds before it will start some days. On a severely cold day, it just makes a low grinding noise and dies. If I drop the clutch, it will start in a half of a second. I'm not sure if it's the starter, or something else.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
The most likely cause for this, having eliminated the battery as a suspect, is your terminals, cables, and connections.

Inspect both the positive and negative main cables and ends, between the battery, solenoid, starter, and engine/frame ground. Make sure everything is clean, tight, and undamaged. Make sure the grounding points are tightly connected to clean, bare steel (rust is a very poor conductor of electricity).

Check the cables running out the back of the battery terminal connectors; they tend to fray and break there.
 
The connections on the battery seem good. I charged the battery to 611 CCA, according to Walmart, and not strong enough to start it. It would start when I popped the clutch. If I jump it, it needs about 2-5 minutes to charge up.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
 
The connections on the battery seem good. I charged the battery to 611 CCA, according to Walmart, and not strong enough to start it. It would start when I popped the clutch. If I jump it, it needs about 2-5 minutes to charge up.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
And what about the connections to the solenoid, starter, and grounds, as specified above? And the condition of the wires all the way from end to end?
 

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