Salutations fellow board members, I have a quandry. I have a 1992 Dodge W-250 with the 5.9L V8 TBI Engine. Recently, its become a problem getting the starter to turn the engine. However, I'm not entirely certain if the batteries gone bad or the starter's worn out.

Here's what's happening. Upon sitting roughly an hour, long enough for the engine to cool or for hte battery to go flat, the engine will not turn over. I can turn the key and here the clunk of the starter teeth engaging the engine, but no crank. HOWEVER, if I turn the ignition fully off and on about 4-5 times, one of hte times the starter will start cranking and turn the engine over.

One night I left the battery on charge and the next morning I would have to crank once, again it would engage no spin, and then the second time the starter would spin the motor.

Now ya see why I'm not certain if its the battery going bad or the starter going bad. I really only have the funds to replace one right now, so I would like to replace the right one.

Your Thoughts?

my thoughts would be to check out the battery first. check your voltages when your not running and the voltages when you do egt it to run. post up here with the results. or if you have an autozone or advance auto around they can even remove it and test it for free for ya.

i would say solenoid if not kicking out and just spinning.....so i think i'd have your starter tested like the guy said..

Here's what's happening. Upon sitting roughly an hour, long enough for the engine to cool or for hte battery to go flatOne night I left the battery on charge and the next morning I would have to crank once, again it would engage no spin, and then the second time the starter would spin the motor.

the battery shouldn't go flat in an hour. and if it did, it wouldn't have the power to turn the starter over, they require a lot of amperage, even for the second or so they run for. if it's going flat, then either it's just done for (batteries have a given lifetime, they just stop working eventually.) or your alternator isn't charging it. i doubt that's the case otherwise the truck would cut out while you were driving.

Now ya see why I'm not certain if its the battery going bad or the starter going bad. I really only have the funds to replace one right now, so I would like to replace the right one.

Your Thoughts?

i really doubt the battery's the issue, mainly because if it didn't have the power to turn the engine over the first time, it wouldn't be albe to turn it over at all. get the battery tested, i'm certain it's fine and the faul lies elsewhere.

sounds like a dodgy connection, since you said you hear the starter gear engage, i don't think it's the solenoid. sounds like a circuit problem.

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but maybe the cables need to be looked at.

EDIT: Oops, right here
sounds like a dodgy connection, since you said you hear the starter gear engage, i don't think it's the solenoid. sounds like a circuit problem.

I haven't tried checking the wires heading down to the starter yet. I just know that once the engine is warm the starter can turn it over just about everytime, hence the rough hour time figure, after its sat about an hour, i'll turn the key to start, here the starter engage, the lights dim, but the engine won't spin. A couple tries later, it'll get the engine to turn and it'll start up like normal.

Hmm, well that DOES sound like a weak battery. Have you taken it to a parts store and had a capacitance test ran on it?

My friend had a '00 GTP with the same problem. I fixed his by tightening up the ground cable connection at the battery, so I wouldn't rule out wiring just yet. His had the exact same symptoms.

Would a truck like this be too new for ballast resistors already? It is TBI, so.

It might have a ballast resistor, it might not. Even if it did, it would bypass it during cranking and apply battery voltage to the coil. The resistor has nothing to do with the starting/charging circuit, however.

Once the starter gets the engine turning, she turns over usually on the first or second rotation, its just there's times when the starter just feels like it can't get enough juice to oomph the engine over. There's been a few times where it'll get like a 1/2 second of turn then stop, then turn the ignition off, turn it back on go to the start position, CLUNK/CLICK, turn the key back off, repeat, usually the 4-5th time the engine will get a crank and rumble over.

EDIT:
I finally had a chance to get out and put the multimeter to the terminals on the battery. Truck has been sitting for roughly 24 hrs at least since the last time the engine was run, so there should be no surface charge interfering. Voltage reading with the ignition completely off, nothing on, 12.20 volts, which fluctuated up and down. Turn on the ignition to run, but no attempts a cranking, voltage drops to 11.8 and slowly starts to tick down a hundredth of a volt at a time. I'm starting to lean towards the battery having a bad cell or one is going bad.

Well, it was part tired battery, but that's not the full problem, so any other suggestions? The Starter just seems like it just can't omph it, like the motor's too weak.

It might be a bad starter. But answer this, was the correct battery used? Does it have enough cold cranking amps?

The brand new battery in it has more CCA than the original did, I think I have a rough guess at what's wrong.

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