I've been having a starting issue that occurs once in a blue moon and am ready to iron it out!

Turn of the ignition key gives a "click" @ the starter, similar to when the solenoid is failing.

The last time this happened (~month ago) I spent a few hours finding all of the grounds, taking them apart, spiffing everything up with a can of carb cleaner. Afterwards she started like a champ!

A few of the grounds were pretty saturated with oil and grime. In particular, one of the battery cables travels towards the engine block and there is a ground, perhaps 1/2" bolt, towards the bottom of the engine block but on the drivers side.

When the starter failed the other day I climbed under the truck and jumped it (crescent wrench touching both starter terminals), with someone turning the ignition key and she started up. While under the truck I noticed that same engine block ground is looking a bit saturated with oil again.

Is that enough to cause a starter failure? I want to fix the issue but don't want to buy or rebuild the starter unnecessarily!

In the case of the leaking oil - any tips to prevent it affecting the grounds? Aside from fixing the leak itself... ($$$)

Thanks!

 

If you jumped the terminals and it turned over, the starter isn't bad. Sounds like the relay to me. Try jumping the terminals at the relay instead of the starter (this will let you know if you have a wiring issue between the relay and the starter solenoid; plus it's incredibly unsafe to start the truck while underneath it).

As for your original question, I guess hypothetically (very, very hypothetically) there could be metal particles in the oil causing it to act as a conductor, but that would affect a hot wire by grounding it out. All that would happen in this [fictional] scenario is that a ground wire would be grounded better unless it also got onto an exposed hot/switched cable or wire. It is entirely possible all that oil is causing road crud to gum up your connections, explaining why it works when you pull it apart and clean it.

As for your leak, sounds like it's coming from the lifter cover behind the IP.

 

Its the contacts in the starter mine done the same thing just replace them or see if they need cleaned or tightened.

 

Thanks for the info guys, will be digging into it this weekend! Going to start with a visit to the local car wash - so I can blast the underside with degreaser and get all that old caked up oil off the underside!