Chinese parts and I'm an idiot. I replaced the redux starter with a "new" O'Reilly's redux back in November. It spun very fast compared to the old worn out one. But, it still wasn't as fast as a 24 volt direct drive starter. About 2 weeks after installing it, it just clicked when I left a store one evening. 6 tries later and it fired up. Hmmm.
This started happening every 15-20 start attempts. Click, click, click, click, start. One of the incidents was in the O'Reilly's parking lot. I had them come out and witness it. Of course, it only failed to start once and then fired up.
I wanted the truck useable while they were waiting for a new replacement to get shipped. So, I took apart my original starter finally, cleaned it up, found glazed over brushes, broke the glaze and installed it. It worked, but it was noticeably slower spinning. I put the replacement for the replacement on a few days later and it was like the first replacement. Fast spinning, but not 24 volt fast. I think the first replacement unit had a defective solenoid. Full warranty so I just swapped them out.
We used the truck to do all our holiday travels and it worked great for long distance travel with several people in really nice comfort. Except, the oil drip on the front. I still can't see any oil around the front main seal but it is dripping from that area. Onto the axle which spreads it out to make a line of drips where I park after driving a few hundred miles at speed.
Oh, after the cruise stopped working back in December, I unplugged the harness under the hood and plugged it back in. Flawless ever since. I don't know.
21° was the coldest morning we had during our "winter." Kind of slow turning, but fired up and ran perfect. Then this week it was in the 50's and I noticed slower than normal starting Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon I watched the volt meter during the glow plug cycle. Normally, it will go down to 11.4 on the TCM display for the glow plugs before starting. I was at 9.1 volts. Uh oh, bad battery. I didn't have time to stop and have O'Reilly's load test them so they could exchange the still under warranty batteries that day. 9.1 volts again yesterday morning and really slow crank. Same thing leaving work yesterday going to O'Reilly's.
I got them to come out with their tester and he told me I had to separate them. They can only test the batteries by themselves. I didn't like that because of my radio, gauge and TCM memory. I have the passenger battery big lead going to the starter. A 4 gauge wire from the passenger battery to the alternator and the passenger battery ground to the frame. The drivers battery big lead goes to the passenger battery with a 2 gauge wire going to my auxiliary fuse panel which is constant and switched power to all my stuff. The drivers ground goes to the engine block.
When doing the starter replacements, I only undid the passenger side battery. The big lead from the drivers side battery I put inside a glove to keep it from sparking, but never messed with the drivers battery terminals on the battery. Yesterday while thinking what to unhook so they could test each battery, I just happened to grab the drivers battery negative terminal and it was loose. Like finger tight about to fall off the side post loose. I told them to hold on, I am just an idiot, got a 5/16 wrench and tightened it down. I tried the starter and it might be as fast as a 24 volt now.
I can't remember the last time I even looked at that terminal, much less had a wrench on it. Probably back in May when I still had the truck in my class before the first test drive. So, it really does all come back to what we all tell new people trying to get a truck running right. Check your grounds! Don't be an idiot also helps.
I still need to put on the Heath water pump that has basically been ported to flow even to both sides and their spin on fan clutch. I think a new balancer and balancer pulley along with a new front main seal will all be part of that repair so I need to save a bit more money up to buy those expensive Delco parts. Probably next month.
That will also eliminate just about all the parts that were not replaced with new during the initial build. That is about all the problems I have had with the truck except for the normal for 1980's GM power lock and power window units not being fast or always working. I am experimenting with different kinds of lubricant to help them out. Might be a direct power relay install for the slow windows in my future. But, I don't feel like pulling the door panels off yet again right now.