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My truck wont start, i crank the key to turn it on, it wont turn over or anything, the fan comes on, all my lights work and are bright so its nothing with the battery, does anybody have any suggestions?

could your engine be sezied? find a spanner big enough to fit on the bolt on the harmonic balancer and turn it clockwise to turn it over manualy, if and when it turns then try n crank the engine again
hope this helps

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I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

if it isn't turning over, you might want to check your starter. Had to replace mine once, same sounding problem. Just gave it a couple of whacks with a wrench while my buddy turned the key. Replaced it, no problems.

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Resident lurker

Sounds like your solenoid went on the starter. Replace the starter and check the ring gear before you put the starter on. No point in replacing the starter if you have a screwed ring gear. Replace the ring gear and put a new starter on and your good to go!

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-1981 Chevy LUV, 283SBC, T350 Trans, White In Colour, Long Box, Never Ending Project!
-2001 F-350 Superduty XLT 7.3L Diesel Auto, Ext. Cab, Long Box, White In Colour
-1998 F-150 XL 4.2L V6 5spd , Reg. Cab, Flareside SB, Red In Colour

I had an alternator lock up on me once and it wouldn't let the motor turn over. Thought that the dang thang locked up on me, but I took the belt off and it fired right up.

Stuff like that always bites me in the butt!

Giles5

I would check all of th econnections on the battery, and the starter. I pulled the terminals off of my batt the other day, and there was a layer of crusty black stuff on both posts, and inside the terminal. I cleaned it off, and the truck spun over faster than it had in a long time. I must not have been getting very much juice at all to the starter.

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Hammer to fit, paint to match.
If it aint broke, don't fix it.
There's always room for duct tape and bailing wire.

WATCH YOUR PIEHOLE!!!!!!

I agree with Grimace, anytime you have a starting problem it is worth cleaning the terminals on the battery. A bad connection might work just fine for everything until you hit the starter. It draws enough juice to heat up the poor connection. More heat equals more resistance, and suddenly what was good enough to power lights and etc isn't enough anymore.

It does sound like the solenoid on the starter. If you get a nice sharp strong sounding click when you turn the key to start then it would be the starter motor itself. No click usually means the solenoid. (assuming low or flat battery has been eliminated) Replacement starters come with the solenoid attached so its easiest to just buy rebuilt one and be done with it.

a bad starter might click or might not. i know mine is bad on my luv. it actually probably just needs cleaning. sometimes it will click and sometimes it won't. give it a tap ith a hammer and it will click a couple of times then start.

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1980 chevy luv 4x4 1.8 liter
1979 luv long bed parts truck
1984 2wd isuzu pup parts truck

"A man who says it can't be done shouldn't interrupt a man doing it."

i say check out the neutral safety switch or clutch switch...whichever u have auto or standard. I have a 79 manual and the clutch switch that detects if you have it pushed in popped off so it wasnt letting the thing turn over...worth a look, would be cheaper then a starter.

theres been a tie when my battery was dead, the lights n shit came on but the starter would just click, i replaced the battery and bobs your uncle

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I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

i found out what my problem was, after 2 days of misery and screaming obscentities, it wasnt the starter, i realized that after i replaced it, it wasnt the clutch switch, it was the brake switch of all things, so i just cut the wires and jimmyrigged them, now i have no brake lights, its gay.

so I went out to start my truck this afternoon, it wonbt start, not that i was shocked, im begining to see why i got it so cheap. The engine canks, and almost turns over but not quite, I dumped as much starting fluid in their as I thought was safe, probably more than neccessary unfortunately though it still won't start, Im pretty pissed, as youve read above, I just replaced the starter with a new one, only to find it wasn;t the problem, it was the brake signal siwtch, so heres the update.
CONTINUING UPDATE:
New starter installed
new starter pluled, replaced with old one (again)
1 1/2 hours spent combing engine looking for missing wire/fuse
5 mins spent fixing brake switch
5 mins pounding head against wall
5 mins jumping for joy when it makes new sounds
1 night of greif spent wondering why it wont start again
10 mins typing this online hoping somebody can help me out
thanks

sounds like weak fire. maybe coil or condensor, possibly even points. you might have fouled out the plugs by spraying alot of starting fluid. my friend had one that acted similar and the wire for the points was loose where it hooks up to the distributer. get a test light and make sure you have power to the coil. then check and make sure the points are working. you can do this by hooking your test light up to the + side of the battery and then put the other end of the test light on the negative side of the coil. then spin the engine over and your test light should blink on and off as the engine turns over. theres another thing i just thought of that can cause weak fire. the coil has a ballast resistor that reduces the voltage to the coil to keep from burning it up. but, when you start it there is another wire that supplys 12 volts to the coil while the engine is cranking. the coil needs more power while cranking. if this wire is not hooked up or not working, the only power the coil will be getting is from the resistor, and thats not enough to start it. try hooking up a wire from the + side of the coil to the battery and see if it cranks. hope some of this info helps out.

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1980 chevy luv 4x4 1.8 liter
1979 luv long bed parts truck
1984 2wd isuzu pup parts truck

"A man who says it can't be done shouldn't interrupt a man doing it."

Looks like Nate2002 hit the starter problem on the head. Sometimes it is the simple stuff. I've never had an 81 to wrench on, I thought there was only the clutch switch and the brake switch(s) had nothing to do with the starter. Those 81s changed a lot of stuff from what I'm used to, so it wouldn't be a big surprise.

An 81 should have electronic ignition, so no points and I think no ballast resistor. I agree it does sort of seem like a weak spark but the electronic ignition is a little tougher to diagnose, not to mention more expensive to throw parts at. A test light can still tell you a lot though.

It could be a fuel problem as well. If you can see fuel in the sighting window on the front of the carb it should have enough to start, but the carb could be plugged somewhere. Splash a little bit of gas down the carb and see if it fires over. If so, start looking at the fuel system. I can't recall offhand if the 81s had the mechanical pump like later Isuzu PUPs and troopers (sits right above the distributor if its there) or the electric. If you have the electric, the relay that runs it seems to be a common point of fault. You could hard wire the pump to the battery to check it out. If you've got a mech pump, check the output by unhooking from the carb and cranking it over with the hose in a bottle. If it puts out much at all in 10-20 seconds of cranking, it should pump enough for the truck to start and idle at least.

After the last fix you found, I guess it goes without saying that I could be wrong. I can't think of anything simple to look at, but I'm sure there is a relay or two in the ignition system and connections all over that should be checked. Its hard to get the timing very good just cranking the truck over. However, its worth hooking a light up and checking it if you have a buddy or a way to crank the motor over while you check the timing. If it is far enough out of time it could keep it from running.

theres an easy way to test whether or not you have spark, pull out one of your spark plugs, attach it back to the lead, hold the end against the engine (head, rocker cover, block) and get someone to crank it over do this for all 4/6/8 plugs to see how strong each spark is

_________________
I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

^^^WARNING: Do not hold spark plug or plug cap while doing this!^^^
.......Trust me...
......

i've done it what a funky ass feeling

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1980 luv sport 4x4 Just a memory now
Frame rusted from the inside. Truck stripped and now looking for a new donor in southern ohio

Funky hell it feels like your spin's gonna jump out your neck

That reminds me of the time when I was little and I was "helping" my dad work on a lawnmower. He said "Hold this." and handed me the plug wire. Of course this didn't have any insulation around the end of it. Trusting little fool... Dad pulled the start cord, he laughed, I didn't.
I laugh thinking about it now, but then I wasn't amused.

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Resident lurker

My starter is OK, the selenoid is shot. It does not shoot the gear in all the way. So I have to take it owt and check it ova.

Can it be that the noid can be replaced rather than a new starter?

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