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starter diagnosis


kpring
11-24-2007, 02:05 PM
2001 Jimmy 4.3 125,00 miles. I posted a week ago with intake gasket change which that ended up ok but that led to a misfire in the #2 cylinder SES reading . Ended up taking it to a GMC dealer to get a full read out and they told me the #2 injector is bad, and for $800 they would change all and I'd be on my way. Changed the injectors on my 1995 Jimmy and had no problem so I paid their $95 for the read out and commenced to taking off the plenum to get at the injectors. Even though I read several posts that said cleaning them on your own doesn't work well for long, I figured I must have gotten #2 dirty during the intake gasket cleaning stage, so I bought 2 cans of injector cleaner and I'd say did a decent job of cleaning them up.Put it all back together and it started fine this morning because of the high idle with it being below frezzing this AM, but because of the coolant I was going thru during the intake gasket problem period, I was only using water to refill until I got around to having the time to change it. Because I never really completely solved everything(it was only a week ago I completed the intake job to find out I then had a misfire problem) never put antifrezze in the engine. Wouldn't you know last night it got into the twenty's and what water was left in the block froze up to the point(drained at least a gallon knowing it was easier to take the plenum off w/o the heater core hoses and radiator return hoses out of the way) I couldn't get a gallon back in. Needless to say although the engine was running smoother that it had before I cleaned the injectors (maybe I was almost finally done with this friggin project!!) I didn't want to over heat the motor (did enough of that until I found out the intake gasket was the leak source) and with the temp going just beyond normal, I shut it off and let the heat of the motor do some melting for an hour or so. Was finally able to get in all the water, but now another new problem - I went to crank over the motor and just before there were enough cranks to start, the cranking just stopped, like completely locked up. Now I thought with the hood light on all yesterday and the fact the battery is a couple years old, I'll charge the battery for a while. But after charging it for a while I went to start it again and same thing - maybe a full revolution and bam - lock up. All the idiot lights light up in the dash lit, even all the 4WD button lights and once, even the tow haul idiot light lit and the back tailgate window release button engaged. Its gotten to the point it rarely will crank the engine - now it just sounds like the starter wants to engage but it just seems like it is too much for it now to do that. I just get the light show on the dash, which momentarly blacks out before returning to normal dash light prompts when I release the key. Is it worth taking out the starter to have it tested or is there some safety thing that needs to be reset because of what I have done to this poor motor the past two weeks. Seems odd coincidence the starter would go.

kpring
11-24-2007, 04:29 PM
Took the starter off the tranny mount just to see if it was binding and it wasn't, wish the solenoid and positive cable were easier to access, I would've check it out at a shop. Put it back in and same problem I'm thinking bad ground or battery is shot. It is to the point now when I trun the key I'm just getting the dreaded clicking (although it some more like tapping). I'm charging up another battery over night to give that a shot. Just tried getting at the ground bolt for the past 45 minutes, so much friggin stuff in the way and its now dark and getting fridged, have to wait til tomorrow to continue.

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