This is the darnedest thing...

I just put the battery back in and the freakin' thing works. From not turning over at all yesterday morning, to starting this afternoon. It was a little rough, but it definitely worked. I even turned it on and off four or five times figuring that once was a fluke, but multiple times would be... uh... well... not a fluke?

I don't know. I guess that I still need to have someone look at it. Weird...

I do know that sometimes cables *look* nice and clean, but can be pretty trashed inside the casing. I seem to remember a vehicle I used to own where there was a ton of crap built up about an inch or so from the end of the cable, hard to see, but there.

Clutch interlock switch is under the dash, should see a tab that comes off the clutch pedal and makes contact with a switch. If that switch is sticking, that might be it as well. (I'd give better directions on where to look, but I have an automatic <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" /> )

It turns out that it was the starter - I had it replaced today. It's good to have friends in the mechanic-ing business.

How much for the new starter? I may be in the market for a new one here after the squirrel damage from a few weeks ago !

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rodent.gif" alt="" />

Uhh... too much. It was about $390 (including the starter and installation) to have a friend of mine do it at his shop. The only reason I got it that cheap is that the guy who did the work is a very good friend of mine. He said that the exhaust had to be moved to get it out.

I know that's a lot of money to pay, but it saved me from having to spend way too much time to get it done. At least I got to spend more time with my wife and kids while someone else frustrated himself getting it done.

To top it all off, my friend noticed that one of my rear shocks (Rancho adjustables) is leaking. I just put them on in October; I guess it's time to see about an exchange from Indy4X, eh? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I paid $160 for mine from Checker Auto. I got the Autolite one which was identical to the one that came out. I did the work myself but a few hours into struggling with the exhaust pipe I was strongly considering paying someone else to do it. Things went much better the second day when I brought home my sawzall to cut off the bolt heads on the y-pipe flange. Took 6 hours total but would have been much quicker if I had the sawzall to start with instead of trying to break off the bolt heads.

So, my truck is at it again. I tried to use it last night to get my folks from the airport (if you've been watching the news, you know what a fiasco the Denver airport is right now), but it would not start. I ended up taking my wife's CRV and doing fine both getting there and coming back.

However, I tried once more when I got home - at 1 am! - and it worked fine. I fear the same old issue may be returning. So my next question is this: should I just plan on swapping the starter in my truck once a year or is there something else wrong here?

Anyone else have these problems with their Rodeos?

Did you test the old starter or did you just have one put in and it worked?

I am wondering if a) it is not really the starter, but the wiring or b) it is the starter, but the poor wiring is killing the starter. Corroded wires can cause some serious choke on amperage and low amps going to high amp motors is not a good thing.

Did you check the battery and cables last time?

In the end, the starting system is pretty simple. Battery, starter and the cables that go between.

Good Luck,
Michael

My buddy checked it out and put one in for me. I trust his judgment implicitly.



Keep in mind that this is nearly a year ago now, but I seem to remember him saying that the wiring checked out. As for the battery, that was replaced just before the starter was because it tested out poorly. My buddy said the battery may have been bad because of the stress the bad starter put on it. I swapped in a Duralast yellow top in the old battery's place.



Thanks for the help. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> I guess I just need to wait for the weather to get a little better, then get out and start poking around to see if I can diagnose the problem... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />