Truck is a 1999 Chevy 3500 dually with 7.4 vortec engine. Been running fine, turned key all I got was loud click. I figured the battery was shot, took it to get checked guy said it was showing 150 amps less than it was supposed to so I bought new Interstate battery. The Interstate I replaced was 7 years old! Anyway it was doing the same thing so I pulled the starter. Bench tested it and it works. Took it back over to the truck, ran positive jumper cable from the positive cable under the truck and the other end to the starter solenoid. Ran ground cable to an alternator mounting bolt, and the other end I attached to the heat shield on the solenoid. Finally I attached one end of some 16 awg wire I had laying around to the two small wires under the truck that were attached to the S terminal on the solenoid. Turned the key and starter works normally. At a loss as to why it didn’t work while in truck? I just eliminated the ignition switch, relay, positive cable going from battery to starter solenoid, and vehicle has a good ground. Any ideas before I put it back in?

 

How old is the starter? As brushes wear you can get intermittent problem you are describing. Redneck test is next time it clicks, have someone hold key in start position and give the starter a light tap with a hammer, see if it comes to life. Or just put a new one in.

 

My guess is it’s the original, 20 years old. Truck only has 130,000 miles but I think a new starter would be the way to go also.

 

yeah sometimes failing starters will click once then work or click each time you try it till you tap on the starter.