My ol girl, the 84 ranger has a problem... She is of the 2.2 liter diesel breed. The starter started to "drag" a week or so ago (whaddya expect for an original starter with 380k miles on it !! ) Anyway..after punching the left front quarter panel a few times to persude the starer to come off the engine...it is now torn down on my bench.... On the truck, it drew beyond what my snap on inductive current meter would detect, thats 600 amps.....peged it everytime. After cranking on the engine for a about 15 seconds, the speed of the sarter would pick up slowly to full speed... and the engine would start. On the bench, the gear reduction drive is in good shape, no issuea at all there, the selenoid is working as it should, kicks out the pinion everytime with authority. I took the motor apart and cleaned the commutator, and the 4 brushes. The roller bearings were in excellent shape, so I just cleaned them in my parts washer and repacked them..... Reassembled on the bench and it still wont hardly turn over...draws way to much current... the brushes were "thin" but still acceptabel in my book. The feild windings appear to be in excellent shape... A new starter will run about 160 bucks for this thing, i would rather try and fix t myself if possible.... any ideas on this guys?
Wello how much are the carbon brushes gonna cost you? Starting slowly and then going to full speed sounds like the brushes to me. Wouldn't hurt to try changing the brushes out before going and changing out the whole starter...
Hi Viking, Volt drop positive and negative cables? Also, pull the alternator belt. You have no idea how many engines I have seen called because the alternator locked up. This is a Clatterschtinker, so I am not totally on board with you even getting it started. I like reading what you write, so if I can help put you in a good mood, so be it.
The brushes might be the way to go, they are well worn, but again, they "appear" to be OK, though they may not be... The cables to the starter in acceptable shape, and the cables to both batteries are also good. I did check the alternator, power steering pump, and vacuum pumps also before I suspe4cted the starter. Even on the bench, this thing draws well over 600 amps of current, and will hardly turn itself over.... I will look into getting new brushes for it, that might be the best route to take....IF I can find a set for it! this is a rare little truck! Thanks guys!
Dang Viking. I misunderstood there. I thought it was pulling that in the vehicle. You got it handled just fine.
I'm also not a big fan of diesels Hey Viking when you get it running, start making your own fuel. Saw it on TV once on an episode of "Trucks". It costs around 0.70 cents a gallon to make http://www.homebiodieselkits.com/homeprocessors.html. 600-amps is a little high, its broke.
The old deisels are just so phucking noisy.. The new one's though (common rail) are very quiet, no knocking what so ever. the power in them are pretty good.
clang hammer diesel, yes...... But she is still in good shape...motor wise I had to pull the head at about 200,000 miles....like an idiot, I ran it low on coolant and it cracked the cast iron head in 3 places....when the head was off, the ring groove on the liners wa almost non existant...i say thats one helluva engine.. Its now at 380.000 miles and is showing its age...the body is shot, but the frivetrain is reasonably sound and the engine is still ticking over as it should....althought the fuel inecter pump is leaking a bit, and the fuel injectors are worn, which slightly reduces my fuel eonomy. to about 30 MPG...not bad for a 4 speed amual tranny with a 4-11 posi rear end with an engine turning about 3000 rpm at 60 mph.... Thanks for the link ranger! i have explored bio fuels for several years, just ainyt done it yet. Right now i run the truck on a mixture of 50% diesel fuel and 50% used motor oil/tranny fluid....which I get for less than 20 cents per gallon...i have my own transfer pump and filtration system with a settling tank for the oils.....when i went to this mixture, the fuel economy went up about 10-15% and the power was better....thanks to the additional BTUs in the fuel mix....makes for a cheap running truck!!!
yeah but he's doing it with a 23 year old truck with almost 400,000 miles.come back when your eclipse reaches that.lol:lol: i have 193,000 on mine.still runs strong,but i'm at 2100rpm at 65-70
Am gunna take the starter in to a shop and have them install the brushes, as i do not have any type of resistive welding equipment for the brush leads to be welded onto the field buss bars. If all goes as planned i will get it done monday of next week
I hope that was the problem, means you wouldn't have to spend that much at all to get it running right again
