Electr./Starting Prob.

[jonnyc]

I don't know, but it must have been magical!
Yesterday I fixed my backfiring, stalling, and idling problems, so I thought all would be well today. Went to start it this AM..........nothing. Lights and stuff worked, but nada at the starter, not even clicking. Tried jumping, looked for loose wires or connections, checked fuses....nothing. Unhooked the battery terminal again (2nd time) and it started right up.
It's Lucas Magic I tell 'ya!!!

What might be the real cause for this problem? Since the truck is now starting I can't isolate the issue, but I would like to avoid its return.
-Something loose in the ignition switch?
-"Flat Spot" in the starter?
-Something erratic in the solenoid?
-Problem in the Crane unit?

[jonnyc]

Any thoughts?

[SafeAirOne]

Bad ground contact between battery cable and chassis would be where I'd begin my quest for the cause.

[bkreutz]

Which battery cable did you disconnect? Positive or negative. It apparently "jiggled" something.(or it was an extreme case of coincidence) You might try "jiggling" the cable again and see if you can induce the condition.

[siiirhd88]

The starting circuit in a Series a very simple circuit. Assuming you have an electric solenoid, the power cable from the battery is attached to one post on the solenoid and the other post on the solenoid goes to the starter motor. When the solenoid contacts are made up, the battery power should spin the starter motor.

From the battery cable post on the solenoid, a solid brown wire will run to the 'hot' power in terminal on the ignition switch. When the ignition switch is 'on' the brown wire will power the solid white wires to the ignition circuit and the fused green wire circuits at the fuse box. This circuit should power your Crane ignition, and not effect the start circuit. When the ignition switch is in the 'start' position the brown wire will power the white with red trace wire to energize the solenoid, closing the contacts between the battery and the starter motor, spinning the starter.

Any loose or dirty connections in the circuit can prevent start. If you don't hear a 'click' when the ignition switch is taken to 'start', I'd suspect a connection problem in the circuit from the brown wire on the solenoid post to the ignition switch and back the white/red wire back to the solenoid or the solenoid itself. If you hear the 'click', the solenoid contact should be making up, allowing the battery to spin the starter.

This could be a bad starter winding, a loose connection at the starter wire, bad engine to chassis ground, etc.

Bob
'02 Disco II SD
'02 Disco II SE Kalahari
'80 SIII 109
'75 SIII 88 V8
'68 SIIA 109 V8

[jonnyc]

I totally disconnected the POS side, but it only started the 2nd time I did that. Since I was alone, I don't know of the red light on the Crane unit was on, but I could see a small light go on inside the keyed ignition switch when I turned it. I'll take some time this weekend and clean and redo all the starter circuit connections, and hope it was a one-time Lucas glitch.
Thanks for the info.

[printjunky]

I agree with Mark. Grounds, grounds, grounds.

I have among the most robust grounding systems (yes, now it's a system) on my SIII, and still after a week of weak horn noise (knowing that's a sure grounding issue), it took me hours (!!!) to get good enough connections to ground (and redoing my power connections) for them to get up to snuff.