New guy here and hoping to get a little assistance. I've got a 317 that I bought new in 2009. Been a great machine so far. However, a couple days ago, I fired it up to go do a job, loaded it onto trailer and drove to site. Go to start it and nothing but click. Battery was fully charged but put a boost on it anyway. Click click. pulled terminals off and cleaned up connections at battery, cables, ground points and starter. Even installed new starter/battery positive cable as I saw a bit of corrosion at the end and it had spread in underneath the insulation. click click. Followed the wires from starter post back to what I am assuming is the solenoid and cleaned up those connections. click click. The reason for cleaning all these connections is that the dealer service guy insists that it is a connection or bad battery problem and not the starter or solenoid. Load tested the battery and it shows up as OK. I'm stumped. Do I pull the starter and see if it is an internal bad connection, maybe caused by vibration. Problem is it worked perfect right up until that one time and now just will not start. By the way, it is a pain getting the cab raised when you can't start it to lift the boom. Any advice here?? Would like to get this thing back to work and really don't feel like paying a dealer to troubleshoot at $110/hr when I have troubleshooted(??) everything that he has recommended. Thanks.
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antfarmer2
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Can you turn the key on the jump the starter soliniod the little one to the big one if it starts bad solinoid or it could be loose starter bolts losing ground
Pardon my ignorance but is the solenoid attached to the top of the "bell housing"(for lack of better word) or is it integrated into the starter.
antfarmer2
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I can't see it from here can you see the starter and if it has a smaller round thing on it with a big wire and a smaller wire jump it there with the key on if it works you will jump too should have some one in the seat
You'd need good eyes to see it from there
I have done that and still get the click only. I pulled the plug off(small wire) and jumper directly across that from the power cable. click click Had someone in the seat with key on. To me it would seem like the starter but it means that it failed all of a sudden. It has never dragged and started right up just an hour before without a hint of an issue. Seems odd for the starter to go like that.antfarmer2
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Try it with the wires where they are suppose to be and try jumping it with another wire also are the starter bolts tight? I see OM is here little help pleaseYou'd need good eyes to see it from there
antfarmer2
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Might be a fuse up in there some where
antfarmer2
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Your lucky day OM and Tazza here hope they stumble over here
Not sure who they are as I am new here, but I'll take your word for it that it's a good thing
The dealer is rite that the click click is generally a battery or cable issue.Not sure who they are as I am new here, but I'll take your word for it that it's a good thing
If you run a short wire from the +ve terminal from the battery to the small terminal on the starter. This essentially jumps it. If it still clicks, i'd also suspect a corroded terminal or a bad battery. Try jumping the battery too.
antfarmer2
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Did you check the fluid in the battery?
I will try that again tonight. Also, the battery shows full charge, and it drops about 1/2 of a volt when I turn the key. I put a load test on it and it showed fine with battery tester. I have also tried it with a boost and the meter was reading 14.3 volts when I tried it that time. Is it possible that this battery is bad even though everything is testing okay? If so, why is it testing okay? Not ruling it out but trying to learn why or how. Makes sense that it could be a bad connection but I thought I exhausted those and cleaned it all up but I will have another look. Obviously something was missed or it would be running right now. One of the next steps will be to pull the starter and bench test it but I'm really hoping to avoid that as it is a pain to access those bolts. It could be a bad connection inside the starter, could it not? Thinking out loud here.
antfarmer2
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I have seen the starter bolts loose and lost ground also check the ground to the engine it is going to be some thing simple were missing
More than likely. Will keep you posted.
antfarmer2
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Great recheck all connections and try jumping from the big wire to the small one on the starter
Jumping to the small wire definitely doesn't help. Same click. Too dark out there now so will attempt to pull starter tomorrow.
frogfarmer
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It does seem strange it would quit all at once but it sounds like you have checked the most common issues for this failure. From your posts the Batt seems good and the connections you have checked should be good. Also given you have a strong click from the solenoid you should have ground. Unless the bolts holding the starter are loose I would suspect the starter has failed. Could be contacts in the solenoid or brushes in the starter as they are wear items but anything is possible.
Hopefully get it sorted tomorrow.(fingers crossed) I've got a couple hours of daylight before work so I'll give it a shot. Sucks working outside in minus 15 though. Can't wait until spring so I can start building a garage. Of course I need the skid steer to prep the ground first. A little irony for you.
Finally victory is mine!! While the battery is a bit weak, it isn't the problem(though it may have helped cause it). I replaced the battery with the one from my truck. click click The only thing left to do was try a new starter. $400 later and it fires right up. My initial thoughts were the starter but since it fired up that morning, but I ignored myself and tried everything else first. I guess that's a good thing anyway, save the expensive part to the end if possible. Ironically enough, the very same morning(about an hour apart), the starter on my Ford Explorer did the exact same thing. However, this time I know it's the starter as it has been dragging for a while, not going to do any troubleshooting there, just going to replace it. 275,000 kms is pretty good for a factory starter on a 1996 vehicle. Apparently it was a bad day for starters in my area.
Thanks for listening and providing insight in the matter. I'll be a week late doing this job and there won't be any profit in this one but at least it will get done. Until next time.
