I had a similar issue a while back with a very expensive custom auto electric shop rebuild.
What I did to solve the issue is to run the red wire from the solenoid (one that activates the solenoid when the key is turned to start) to a Ford starter relay that I mounted on the inner RH fender up by the RH battery.
Wire the relay to pull full battery power off the RH battery and then run that lead to the solenoid on the starter.
Be sure the relay is grounded good to the chassis too.
What happens is that the small lead that GM used to activate the starter is just too small for the amp draw and over time it's ability to provide the required power to really pull that solenoid in properly goes away, allowing the contacts to arc and then they go away. When the solenoid is starved it can't hold the contacts tight and then they arc more and this ruins them as well as deprives the starter.
A vicious circle
I dont mean to insult, but be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel sure the cables are in good order.
I have seen ground cables that were no good and they looked fine.
They usually go south in the crimp where they bolt to the engine.
The side terminal cables corode in the jacket (Red) and (Black) down in the core of the wire where you cant see it unless you cut them open.
The factory cables are in many cases soldered but not the core, only the outer area where they contact the terminal end assembly.
Once the core corrodes they lose a lot of their ability to transfer power.
Again in most cases you simply can't see it by looking at the cable while it's off the battery.
I would recommend that if the cables are over 5 years old to toss them and get some new ones. Replace the grounds as well as the positive cables. Be sure the power lead that runs from the alternator is in good order as well as the lead that runs to the chassis feed box/junction box
(Depends on the year)
Your starter is simply drawing more power than the cables can supply.
As the cable degrades the amperage draw starts to climb and you in effect get a brown out. The voltage drops off and the amperage goes up.
This results in the contacts in the solenoid arcing more and more untill the solenoid just goes CLICK
With the relay added and some fresh cables, you should be in great shape. (My 94 used to be real slow in the cold, NOT any more)
The added relay also takes a big load off the ignition switch and also allows more power to the system during starting as the solenoids power demand is now provided directly from the battery.
The starter will pull in faster, harder and will last far longer than the factory setup.
The cost is negligable to do this. Use #10 wire to run from the original to the relay and then back to the solenoid.
You can route this neatly up along the original path the heavy cable to the starter runs and tie it with tie wraps.
If you use batteries like the Optima or similar with both top and side terminlas, I would get some welding cable and some copper solder on eyes and make a set of good cables and then use the top terminals with the marine type ends that use a BOLT.
You can install these and use the provided wing nut to attach them.
Use fine strand cable and solder them in to the copper end.
Dont be temped to use a crimped connection as it will soon fall victim to the same issues.
When the solder is flowed into the eye until the cable is totally filled to the core there is no place for corrosion to start.
Even a set of new factory type cables will go a long way to help, but do install the relay setup.
To answer your question "What kills starter" Poor voltage and amperage availability.
The starter needs to have a good 12+ volts available and the ability to get a 400 amp surge to start things rolling. If the cables can't supply this then the starter just fries.
Hope this helps.
Robyn
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