It should have been easy. Even after spending all day trying to get it done I’ll still say it should have been easy. Two bolts hold it in place and two nuts for the wiring. The only snag is that you really can’t get it past clutch slave cylinder. Okay I took the slave cylinder off and let it hang by its hydraulic line. Well, now I can’t get it turned back around the right way to get it out with the slave cylinder out of the way.
I’m talking about the starter on my truck. The solenoid switch went out on it the other day and I figured I’d save myself a couple of hundred bucks by doing the work myself. I started at 2:00 this afternoon and finished a few minutes past eleven…. and I’m tired. It took me thirty minutes in the shower just to get the grease off of me.
After I finally got it out and put back in I went to hook the battery up and the starter kicked in. I took the starter back out and tested my connections again with a 12VDC power supply I have. It should have worked. I moved the wiring around a bit, rechecked everything and reinstalled it. It went a good bit faster putting it back in this time but I had the same problem. After several removals and reinstallations, trying something different I finally thought it through well enough to know what the problem was.
There is a little ear on the wire terminator that is suppose to lock the wire terminator into the solenoid terminal. I thought I had engaged it but I was wrong. It was shorting out against the starter switch terminal. I fixed that and things seemed good…. until I tried to start it. The clutch actuator wasn’t seated properly. Back under the truck I went to remove and reinstall the clutch slave cylinder, making sure the actuator is seated.
It started after about 2/3 of a revolution.
Okay, just so I have the procedure down, here it is.
Tools needed:
- 9/16″ socket.
- 1/2″ socket
- 3/8″ socket
- E6 Torx® socket
- #2 Phillips screwdriver.
Removal:
- Remove the negative terminal from the battery.
- Engage the emergency brake, chock the wheels and jack up the truck.
- Install jack stands, do not trust the jack.
- Remove the clutch slave cylinder.
- Disconnect the wiring from the starter. (Yeah, it’s tight but you can do it and trying to do it after taking loose the starter is much tougher.)
- Remove the two bolts holding the starter on, twist the starter clockwise and remove from the bell housing.
Replacing starter solenoid:
- Remove heat shield.
- Remove grounding strap from solenoid.
- Remove three Torx® head screws holding solenoid to the starter.
- Carefully pull solenoid back and up to disengage from the sprocket throw.
I’m tired I’ll edit this later and finish up. I’m going to bed. I have to drive back to Kansas tomorrow.
