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No crank

bderosie

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I drove my 2017 ram 2500 about 6 miles. I got home, shut it off and now I get no crank when trying to start it. I have power, dash lights, radio, etc. I can also hear the starter relay click whe trying to start. I've checked all fuses and still no crank. What could have happened?
 
Is the starter relay clicking multiple times when you try to crank? Or just 1 click?

Always start with a good fresh fully charge battery when diagnosing electrical stuff.
Age of battery?
Connections good and clean?
Check voltage of battery on your dash since you have some power, verify with a meter directly at the battery. Or, pull battery and take to an Autozone or where ever and let them test voltage and put a load tester on it to see if its good.

If all good with battery and/or you get a single click when trying to start could be the starter going bad, the teeth are not lining up properly or the actuator not moving freely. Either will prevent proper engagement and give a no start.
 
Battery was new last fall and all connections are good and clean. Starter motor looks to be pretty crusty and a big pain in the ass to swap out. Relay seems to only click once. Never had any problems until now
 
Believe that crustiness might be the culprit. Depending on where you live and where you drive through salty winter roads or dusty backroads.

Might be as simple as couple love taps with a hammer on the starter to free it up but that is no fix. While no fun, I would remove the starter if all the battery checklist boxes are checked and look at the crud in there and also inspect the teeth on the starter and flywheel to ensure no damage to either.
In the rare events, dust or crud can cause a misalignment and give you a no start. A good cleaning might fix it, at the same time you are already that deep into things and can just replace the starter.

I myself like to wrench on stuff and make things work again. So I would remove the starter, clean/lube do a bench test to ensure everything is moving freely and smoothly and reinstall. Only a 50/50 risk of it not working and doing all the work twice to remove and install a new one. Murphy's Law and hindsight is something I battle with, I also wrench on antique cars where parts are not down the road at the parts store.
 
Same thing happened to my son a couple months back, starter had a dead short, yes he has a 2020 1500, but the dealer said it’s been happening to the 5.7 AND 6.4. His truck only has 40,000 miles on it, they just don’t make starters like they used to…
 
Same thing happened to my son a couple months back, starter had a dead short, yes he has a 2020 1500, but the dealer said it’s been happening to the 5.7 AND 6.4. His truck only has 40,000 miles on it, they just don’t make starters like they used to…
They don't make TRUCKS like they used to. :confused:
 
After testing everything I could think of, I finally replaced the starter and now it's working perfectly! I've never seen a starter just stop working without warning signs of it going bad. Thanks for all of the tips and suggestions!
 
I had the same issues and turns out it started after I tightened the starter wire and battery cables. I'm suspecting it was the starter wire that was semi-loose.
 
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