New Starter for CUCV: Should this happen?

[zaxcucv]

Well everyone from the south is like that, he buys them from gl gets them running and sells them! So he pays average 1500 and sells them for $4200 plus tax! Yes your getting a truck u can test drive etc but im not paying a mark up for something i can do my self! Some of the stuff i have seen over there has been nice like the m35a2 he had a while ago! For a newby its the safe way to go!

And you are right, if I knew what the **** I was doing, the GL would have saved me a bunch of dough...

 

[ryan77]

You also can get burned by gl i had one with a blown rear end and another with more rust then 70's camaro!!! U need to preview them and watch what u spend to give yourself a buffer for unexpected problems!!!

 

[edpdx]

etvchicago, I, like many here, have had starter problems with my Blazer. If you review my threads (many ), you'll see that I have asked the same questions you are asking. I have bought ebay Chinese starters, found my original (to me) starter was a 12volt Direct Drive, switched it out for a Chinese 24volt. Tested fine out of the vehicle, but I could not get it to turn over at all. The seller agreed to send me just the solenoid. The first one had purple wire issues that came from over tightening the connecting nut. It stripped and caused arcing that soon made starts hit-and-miss. The chinese starter worked fine for awhile. Got her towed home. By this time I had R&R'd the starter too many times and ended up modding the battery cable and the purple cable that go to the starter. Inline connecter were added to each permitting faster R&R times as there was only the brace and mounting bolts to deal with- no more monkey fingering the cable nuts.

Since I had the Chinese starter out- I decided to replace it with a Wilson starter. Ordered the 24 volt; 28MT Gear reduction type. Installed it and all was well. Then... it stopped. Under warranty I had it replaced. When I picked the new one up I noticed that the new one was identical to the old one but with a bright sticker that read "24 VOLTS". I may have installed the 12volt model even though I had ordered it for 24volts- their mistake. I had to put the Chinese one back in to get to the parts store that day, and it cranked up so well that I have never removed it to put the new Wilson one in (I keep it as my spare).

After all this, I get the feeling that the Blazer has wiring connectivity issues. I would check continuity of the purple wire that runs from the starter to the relay. If it looks good, clean the ends. The 24 volt starter cable is probably ok. Also have a look at the positioning of the ignition switch on the column. It may, through years of wear and tear, have slid to far forward and not make a sound connection when the key is turned- no start- or intermittent failures.

I know the starters from China suck; but we are having to many issues for the starters to be the sole culprit. Check the cable and connections. Run a new purple cable and label it "purple". Lastly, have a look in your fuse block for bad continuity.

Good luck.

 

[GPrez]

After being left stranded twice by the e-bay Chinese starters I used the Rosscommon method and converted to 12V and never looked back. It's been 2-years since and not a single starter problem. Considering all the people that have had starter problems with these starters I do not think it is the wiring on the truck. I think it's the cheap starter. If you want to stick with 24V have the original rebuilt.

 

[islandguydon]

I agree with GPrez, but keep the 24v starter. Take your truck to a starter shop and have them preform the 3 R's.

Remove, Rebuild, Replace. Then you have a warranty through them and not some flybynight on e-pay.

Thats my 2 cents.

 

[Matt65]

Sadly I bought a starter from DBElectric as well through E#ay. American seller, Asian part. My results were very similar. I removed it and had it tested as No Good. I was going to return it, and had arranged to do so with DB. However, after reading more here on the subject I had my factory Direct Drive rebuilt and tossed the DB behind the seat.

 

[nattieleather]

Have you checked the relay that is under the dash to see if you are getting a good 24V source to the selinod on the starter? When I had a CUCV I thought I was having a starter problem only to find it was the relay causing me greef!

 

[etvchicago]

Have you checked the relay that is under the dash to see if you are getting a good 24V source to the selinod on the starter? When I had a CUCV I thought I was having a starter problem only to find it was the relay causing me greef!

Yep, I did that. The last time the starter didn't work, I used a jumper wire to bypass the relay. Click, but no go.

 

[etvchicago]

Sadly I bought a starter from DBElectric as well through E#ay. American seller, Asian part. My results were very similar. I removed it and had it tested as No Good. I was going to return it, and had arranged to do so with DB. However, after reading more here on the subject I had my factory Direct Drive rebuilt and tossed the DB behind the seat.

This seems to be the consensus. I'm going to take the original to a rebuilder. Thanks!

 

[gijoe13]

Have you done the Doghead relay mod? If not I suggest it before you install a new starter.

 

[etvchicago]

edpx, that is quite an ordeal! When the starter doesn't work, the solenoid does make a very solid "click" each time, so it does seem to be getting enough juice, but you're right, checking continuity around the whole system might be a good idea, if I get around to it this weekend. Meantime, getting the old one rebuilt does seem to have the most votes; at the very least, I'll have a back-up, or I can can use it to drive my secret death robot project in my basement.

 

[M1008driver]

The gear reduction starter uses a different brace or bracket than the original direct drive. Some don't catch this. I also found the battery cables have to be connected good and clean. One of my negative cables had rust under where I could not see until I changed the cable connector to the military style.

If you do the Roscommon 12 volt conversion I read a heavy duty starter works better. Get the lifetime warranty too. (No, I am not recommending doing the conversion)

 

[etvchicago]

The gear reduction starter uses a different brace or bracket than the original direct drive. Some don't catch this. I also found the battery cables have to be connected good and clean. One of my negative cables had rust under where I could not see until I changed the cable connector to the military style.

If you do the Roscommon 12 volt conversion I read a heavy duty starter works better. Get the lifetime warranty too. (No, I am not recommending doing the conversion)

Thanks--I did catch that bracket issue by shear luck; ran across mention of it somewhere on here, so yes I did get the correct bracket.

I may consider the conversion at some point in the future, but right now I'm just happy to have my truck running again. My other vehicle, a crappy late model Volvo, was trashed last year when the timing belt failed. So until I get some money saved, the CUCV, which was just meant to haul stuff, is now my daily driver!

 

[M1008driver]

The only other thing I would say is check your flexplate the next time you have to remove the starter. Mine had a bad spot and it was worth the time to replace.

You can get good military battery connectors and custom cables fairly cheap. Just watch the size of the cable ends and measure the length right the first time when you order. They made a difference too for me.