Ok, I'm just scratching my head at this point guys.

About a week ago, I started having charging/starting issues on my truck. About 80% of the time, I turn the key and get one single "Click/Clunk" noise, followed by silence. Once I get a jump-start, it turns over fine.

The rest of the time, she randomly kicks over just fine.

I started hearing a horrendous noise when she was running, and it turned out that the bearing blew on the alternator, so I replaced that and it's 2 days old now.

I assumed that would also solve my starting/charging issues, but no. So I replaced the battery this morning. Went to turn it over, and "Click." No dice.

Wipers, lights and radio all work fine.

I've triple and quadruple-checked all my terminals and connections.

What the he11 could it be? A bad starter?

 

It sure sounds like a bad connection to me. Maybe a bad ground? Not sure how old the truck is but you might want to wiggle each wire in the terminal to make sure it hasn't corroded and broke off at the terminal.
Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

...or worn starter brushes.


tap the starter with a hammer while someone holds the key in the start position. if it starts, replace the brushes. Don't hit to hard or you will damage the field magnets.

 

It's an '89, so there's probably a good chance that a terminal is all corroded or a boot is cracked or somewhere in between. I recently ('bout two months ago) swapped out nearly the entire wiring system in the truck, but the two main battery cables were among a handful of the miscellaneous wires that weren't included in the kit I bought.

As for the ground, that's a good point that I've completely spaced on I checked the terminal at the battery multiple times but didn't bother with actually making sure that the GROUND was GROUNDed out haha

I don't recall them ever being replaced, so chances are maybe they're just worn out after 25 years. I'll take a good look when I get back home.

 

I'm a few days late to this thread, but I would definitely check all grounds and clean them off no matter what.

A long story shortened: I had a boat motor (75hp Chrysler) that was driving me crazy in that sometimes it would start and run fine and at others it would not. Eventually I replaced everything and was going to replace the starter solenoid. When I pulled the solenoid off I learned that there was actually a third ground on the motor that was concealed and not hooked up. boy did I feel dumb