Quick question. Mechanic slapped in 12volt starter...

[Dabba]

I just had 1100 dollars worth of work to the truck done. The biggest one was them drilling out a broken starter bolt and having to retap both. They replaced the starter because they said the holes were messed up and it wasnt fitting correctly. So, basically I was a huge pain in their ass for a week, and in the end i just took the starter wire off the terminal block on the firewall and placed it onto the pos term of the front battery. (I heard the poor 12v starterwinding out when i first started the truck a few times) Now, ive seen the arugments between 12v and 24v and I have no intention of doing a conversion, but I really dont want to take the truck back to the shop. Can i just run the 12v in this configuration until it kicks it and then ill seek a 24v replacement? I live on long island so it never gets super cold but I figure if for some reason the foward battery is dead or its really cold i can force 24v into thestarter..

 

[KsM715]

Did you instruct them to put a 12v starter? If they took it upon themselves to just put in a new starter I would take it back and make them replace it with the correct one.

 

[dependable]

The 12 v civilian 6.2s use 2 batteries also. Your current set up might work on a very temporary basis if your front battery is very strong and it stays warm out. Suggest you go ahead and get a 24 volt starter or change over to 12 volt. You can convert to 12 v in a temporary way, and convert back later, but that is more work than just dealing with it.

 

[doghead]

So, your still supplying the solenoid with 24v?

Did they install a starter brace/support?

Did they give you your old starter back? I'd simply replace the bendix housing on the old starter. Do you have a good starter repair shop near you?

 

[Dabba]

I imagine they swapped the old starter already. I know the place they got the new one from and they take cores to rebuild. Right now im running 12v to the starter. I took the starter wire off the block on the firewall and attached it to the front battery. Im assuming its no differentthan a traditional 12v setup on a car. Alt feeds batt, batt pushes starter. All are 12v so everyone should be happy right? I have a guy who my driver side alt no problem when i couldnt find a proper replacement, not sure if he does starters though. I mean if its fine the way it is and wont damage the truck or leave me stranded i dont mind running 12v for the life of this starter. It's just that the starter holes were retapped and they shimmed it so I dont want to go screwing with it myself anymore and i dont want to have to pay extra for their mess up if i bring it back. The brace is installed as it should be. When i was down there the mechanic was talking about a loose brace being the probably cause of the break. I thought so too because looking back, the bolt the brace uses to mount to the block was loose >.<

 

[doghead]

You need to either test, or ask them if they modified the wiring to supply 12v to the starter solenoid. Original it gets 24, and changing only the large battery cable does not change this.

The easiest way to do this is, pull the under dash starter relay and place a jumper wire between the purple with white wire, to the purple wire(eliminating the relay).

 

[Warthog]

(The OP is the one that made the wiring change, not the shop)

Like DH said. you are now suppling 24v to the 12 starter solinoid on the starter. It will work for a while but WILL burn up the solenoid and the starter will have to come out.

No problem running the starter as 12v, but you are only using 1 battery to do it. Most diesels need two to provide enough amperage to overcome the high compression.

 

[Dabba]

Wait, I dont understand this, the starter gets juice from another wire besides the big red one that goes to the terminal block on the firewall? I pulled it off the firewall and hooked it to the front battery so I thought I was giving it 12? Listening to it crank, it sounds fine and its not winding out. If theres something im missing here, ill give them a call and have them swap it out

 

[doghead]

Call me, PM sent

 

[doghead]

No call yet...

 

[Warthog]

The starter has two wires that feed it. The main BIG wire that turn the guts. And a smaller wire that engages the solenoid which engages the bendix (drive gear) and closes the contacts for the guts.

On a stock system these are both 24v.

You just changed the BIG wire.

 

[doghead]

He called, and I explained that W.

I think he understands what needs to be done for now.

 

[Dabba]

Yes I got it guys, thanks. Ill make the modification sunday hopefully, I'd like to drive it to school monday. Shes been out of service awhile so it would be nice.

 

[ReubenJames]

Guess I'm a little late to the party but this is what happened to me after a similar situation.

 

[K9Vic]

Did they install a starter brace/support?

Guess I'm a little late to the party but this is what happened to me after a similar situation.View attachment 420596

Was that due to a missing starter support brace like doghead noted?

I had a M1009 that did not have the brace when I went over everything and since they are not available anymore I made one with a piece of metal stock, in a "L". I took the one out of my M1031 as a blue print and to match the bend I cut out a small V and bent it to make the angle and welded it. Drilled the holes and filed them out to match. Worked great and and looked great when installed. It is pretty simple to make, but you really need to weld it when you bent it so it will not bend out.

With all the past post of how important this bracket is I knew I had to put one in, so making it was my only option.

Last picture is the OEM bracket to compare with my homemade one.

 

[Dabba]

Guess I'm a little late to the party but this is what happened to me after a similar situation.View attachment 420596

Holy ****, I can quite see the bolt holes, did it just fall off? How were the starter bolts? It just fall apart on a start?

 

[ReubenJames]

Rear bracket was in place and it worked for quite sometime before it broke. Previous owner put in a 12 volt starter (pictured) instead of the 24v. Spun like a tornado until it quit. When I took it off and got it cleaned up I found it was a 12v.