Truck won't start

[majorfa05]

Guys, went to the local Home Depot and when I went to leave, truck would not start. Turn the key and all the lights came on but would not do anything. No clicking no noise at all.  Tried jumping but still nothing what so ever.  Had battery checked and showed good, 660 cold cranking amps and 12.6 volts.  Starter????  I have no clue.  Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.Thanks

[Gary Lewis]

Starters don't usually die that way.

Do you have a tilt steering wheel?  If so, I think the pot metal piece in it is broken.  Been there, done that.  Intermittent start.  You can see the fix for it on the page at Documentation/Interior/STEERING COLUMNS & STEERNG WHEELS.

Jumper from the hot battery terminal, either on the battery or on the starter relay, to the front small terminal on the relay/solenoid.  That should pull the relay in and run the starter.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT IN PARK AND THE PARK BRAKE IS ON!

[majorfa05]

Nope, no tilt wheel,(wish it did, I am too tall, LOLO) Having it towed to house tomorrow, starter solenoid maybe? If gas was knowledge on engines, an ant's go-cart would not make 1/4 the way around a BB.  But I am learning alot reading on here and Youtube.  Where would you start?

Thanks

[Gary Lewis]

I would start by jumpering the hot side of the starter relay to the little terminal on the relay that has the Red/Light Blue wire on it.  That will pull the relay in and the starter should run.

If that doesn't work then you have either a bad battery cable, bad starter cable, or bad relay - aka solenoid.  And we can talk you through how to test each of those.

If it does work and the starter spins then you have an issue between the ignition switch and the starter relay.  And an '82 shouldn't have the neutral start switch, so the wiring is very simple.

[majorfa05]

The starter relay is mounted on the passenger side of the front fender, correct?

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, and it should have three wires to it:

Battery Positive: The front large terminal should be directly from the battery's positive terminal

Starter Terminal: The rear large terminal is the one that goes down to the starter.  It should have battery voltage on it when the relay is pulled in, causing the starter to spin.

Small Terminal: An '82 should only have one small terminal, but later relays had two and it is possible someone put one of those on your truck.  When battery voltage is put on this terminal, usually via the ignition switch and the R/LB wire, the relay pulls in and connects the two large terminals to each other.
 So if you use a jumper wire or even a screw driver to jumper from the large battery terminal to this terminal the relay should close and the starter should spin.

[majorfa05]

Thank you, will check tomorrow when I get him home.

[majorfa05]

Finally found a 3 post starter relay, 15 minutes of work and he now starts like a champ. Thanks Gary for your assistance.

[Gary Lewis]

Excellent!!!