Hey guys, my starter was clicking few times before it turned, so I put in a new starter. First it did not turn at all, then we reconnected the wires and tighten them wires to the starter and it started working every time.
Then slowly it started giving that ttttt noise before it turned, like when the battery connection is not tight. And now it doesnt turn at all.

Any ideas?

 

Battery condition? Cable connection or condition .

 

Check your battery condition - more specifically do a load test if you have the capability.

 

Yup, batt cables, or the batt itself. There's a bad connection somewhere. Corrosion at the batt terminals, corrosion inside where the end of the wire part of a cable goes into its connector, etc. Or, for the batt to be bad, a bad internal connection between cells. There are 6 cells, all in series, generating 2.2V or so each, with 5 connections, all immersed in sulfuric acid, along the way.

Start by taking the cables off the batt and cleaning both the posts or the flat places on the batt, and the inside of the cable connector, with a wire brush and/or sandpaper first, then baking soda and hot water.

 

Battery is new. I tighten the cables up now it clicks 3-4 times before the starter works.

Same thing as the old starter. The reason I changed the new starter was to get rid of the click... anybody figured out why it clicks several times before it turns over? Cables?

Yes, bought new bolts for the battery connections and cleaned up before reconnecting to the battery.

See, when I first installed the new starter and tighten things up it started every time. It kind of slowly gets weaker...till it doesnt even click

Thanks

 

Sounds like the cables are the problem then.

Take them off, wire-brush the contact surfaces, soak the ends in baking soda and hot water, don't put them back on until the metal is clean and shiny and brand-new looking. Maybe put a bit of dielectric grease on them to ward off future corrosion.

Use some logic. THIMK. If you "disturb" something, and it works for awhile but then slowly deteriorates until you "disturb" it again, then THAT'S the problem. You aren't actually REPAIRING it, you're merely "disturbing" it. Logic. Reason.

 

I took it to the shop. It wasnt even clicking any more. The guy grabbed a long rod and tapped the starter real hard a few times and it turned over and car started.
Bad starter. Brand new from O Reilly

Thank you guys. I am ordering one from Autozone. The tapping guy said if it didnt work I have to take the starter to a guy he recommended for rebuilding.

 

When purchasing a rebuilt, it becomes a crap shoot. Chances are the field coils, over time, have failed to produce a sufficient electromagnetic charge to turn the armature. Of course the field coils are never replaced.

 

I got one from Autozone, (Duralast). I installed it this morning. No clicks so far. Starts every time.