Truck wouldn't start. Starter rebuild

Not solved. Battery has been discharged by some unknown culprit and left me stranded numerous times since my last post. I have since disconnected my positive bus bar, 300amp breaker and rewired to my previous setup (no inverter). I figured it worked before so it should work now, wrong. She fired up fine after the initial rewire, worked fine all day. Last night I couldn't sleep so u decided to take a ride to McDonald's for a late night stomach ache. She wouldn't start. I recharged the battery for a bit, started the truck and drove around for like 40 min. I have suspicions of my shitty Amazon lights so I flipped the bussmans breaker to disconnect from any power. Left it over night. This morning again won't start. I'm going to be disconnecting the pa speaker connected to my cb that stopped working but I highly doubt it's that. Also going to be looking at disconnecting my amp to see if there is a problem anywhere on that circuit. I have a starter rebuild kit and mechman alternator coming soon but I need to find why the fuck the battery is being drained. Shits frustrating.

 

I have a Renogy 100W solar panel mounted to the OEM cab roof rack on my truck. It goes through a Renogy MPPT solar controller, then to the battery (single battery setup). I have a SnoMaster fridge mounted in the bed of my truck that runs 24/7. The solar panel keeps the battery topped off. Never had a problem with my single battery setup this way. Though it sounds like you're probably pulling more juice than my fridge which runs DC without an inverter. Just sharing my solution/setup.

 

Sounds like a solution but I want to find what is actually draining the battery before I patch over my issue.

 

Of course. I didn't read this entire thread... sounds like some damn gremlins.

 

Yup. I've done big 4 wiring upgrade, bussman fuse box, tapped into the dome light for puddle/courtesy lights, abs kill switch.... There is soo much shit to go over. But what kills me is there was no problems until I drained the battery the first time with the inverter. Ever since then it's been pure fuckin problems. I did take it to Canadian Tire to check to make sure it was ok and this kid apperantly had it on the wrong settings so I don't even know if it is still ok.

 

A drained battery and cold temps can kill the battery...after all it’s been through, it might be the current (pun intended) problem...

 

That's what I'm leaning towards. I have my old battery I'll be putting in tonight.

 

It’s your battery

Have it tested to be sure.

 

Agreed, have to make sure your battery is GOOD before continuing, then if you still have a parasitic draw, perform a voltage drop test on ALL the fused circuits.

The Trainer #26: Using Voltage Drop To Find Key-off Battery Drains

 

you might consider getting a stand alone deep-cycle battery to run your inverter. Charge it with solar panels and or home chargers. Truck (starting) batteries are not made to draw down below 12.2 volts on a regular basis , a couple of draw downs into the 11.5 volt range will half the life of a new battery. It sounds like this might have happened to you.
I would suggest buying a new truck battery, and using the old one for your inverter, to test this idea. See if things go back to normal with the truck. If you don't have enough capacity with that battery to get a days work in, you could parallel the other battery to give you twice the time of power. This setup is just to keep you in power until you figure this out. I'm thinking that the way you've been running down the battery, and the cold weather, have rendered your battery almost useless.
If you really think you have a constant drain, you can hook up a millimeter between the battery + terminal and the disconnected + battery cable, and see how much current ( amps) you are pulling with nothing turned on. If it is over an amp or two you have something bad in the electrics somewhere. If your not sure how to perform the above test, pm me and ill give you the step by step directions. Be careful, to test DC amperage , the probes go to a different tap in the meter. If not done right, it will evict the black smoke from the meter, rendering it useless.
If it over a amp of draw, report back and I'll give you a few troubleshooting tips.

 

I have a marine grade agm group 31 battery that is just over 1 year old. 1000 cca, 200 amp hour.

This was the kind of info I was hoping for, thanks.

Very informative. Appreciate your input. I'll be fully charging the current battery tonight and disconnecting the leads overnight to see if I can reconnect and start the truck in the morning. This should eliminate at least one variable. If she starts up, then on to testing individual circuits.
I had the torque app running and was reading 13.8 while idle but tested 14.5 at the battery leads with a reader. Checked this morning and she sat at 11.4 before recharging to be able to start. I've eliminated all but my amp off the battery and it never gave issues before. I think the battery is done. I'll have it retested tonight if I have time.

 

Started fine at 12. Went for lunch, parked came back at 1 and she was dead again.... Good thing I brought a 100' cord and my battery charger....

 

Im glad I left my truck mostly stock,seems like upgrades always come back too bite you for some reason.

 

So I replaced my battery and same shit. Looks like it might be the starter. It clicks once into contact but doesn't turn.

 

I'm actually hoping it's just the starter. That way I don't have to trace a paracidic drain. On the plus side I now have 3/4 of the materials for a dual battery set up....
Would the starter "warm up" and turn over easier in between trips?
Why is it that when I get a boost it starts up fine?

 

Did you replace the battery with a brand new battery?? Or just another battery that you have also been doing this same thing to for years? You need to charge the battery, put it on your truck. Then turn the key off. Every thing off. Open both fuse panels. Take a cheap walmart compass. If you dont have one, GO BUY ONE. Stop trying to diagnose your truck by switching out batteries and taking chargers to work. Move the compass over the fuses, staring with the fuses under the dash first. Any circuits that have power will deflect the needle because of the electromagnetic field around the moving electrons. When you find which ones have power, pull them. If none have power, move to the under hood fuses. If you pinpoint one you have modified, that's probably it.

 

Trying to follow along here...

At one point you said after sitting, the battery voltage read 11.4V. That's basically a flat battery. If the new battery shows the same voltage after sitting overnight, you have a draw somewhere in the system, or a bad battery. You have eliminated the bad battery via replacement (good!) That leads me to still think parasitic draw. Even with all your aftermarket doodads disconnected, there is still a LOT of factory stuff that could be drawing power.

So, put a clamp (DC current) meter on the lead(s) from the battery and see what your draw is. If you can find one that records max-min, clamp it on, close the hood, and let her rip for a night.

I wonder if it's the time-delayed evap test and related equipment causing an excessive draw on the battery. The test runs some sort of pump for a while, several hours after shutoff. The draw is minimal, but if something is busticated, that might be a root cause.

 

Brand new battery. Installed and it reacted the exact same way as it has every morning, 1 click (forks contact) and nothing.

 

Try tapping on the starter while some one else makes the contacts close with the key

 

That always worked for me on my older toyota