I've replaced the starter on my truck more times than the boys at NAPA would care to count. The first few were napa remanufactured units, then I upgraded to napa NEW starters about 3 units ago. They've all been free replacements (paid a few bucks for the upgrade) and most of them bench tested OK at the store. Putting the old one back in proves it to still be bad even when they test ok. Putting a new one in solves the problem (until the starter just goes "click" again thousands of miles later). Today's starter bench tested OK electrically, but sounded bad (long time to spin up, lots of bearing noise).

All cables (ground and positive) are good, no internal corrosion. Ground points and battery terminals are all clean and tight. Shorting the solenoid to the battery cable (to remove the possibility of a wiring/relay/switch problem) yields the same "click".

The solenoid will not pull the pinion gear out enough to engage the flywheel or to engage the main motor contacts; the motor won't spin.

I start and stop the truck probably 15-20 times a day (at least).

So: What am I missing here? Is the starter solenoid getting cooked by the exhaust pipe? The original heat shield is still there. I'm getting as sick of working inside the wheel well as the boys at NAPA are of replacing this thing for free...

ROM