Sudden no crank, after oil cooler gasket replacement

[tamadrumr88]

Short story: Replaced oil cooler gasket, and did an oil change at the same time. Cranked 3 times with DIS disconnected to allow it to build oil pressure. Reattached DIS now it suddenly won't crank anymore. Turned the motor over using crank pulley nut just to confirm it'll spin no problem.

Long story: Disconnected negative battery terminal but left starter on sub-frame (out of the way to get better access to oil cooler from underneath, and so I wouldn't be disconnecting everything). Put everything back together, unplugged DIS and re-attached negative battery cable so that I could crank it a few times to build oil pressure. After plugging DIS back in it doesn't want to crank. Battery has been on a battery tender and has maintained 12.6+v and was cranking fast right up until it did not want to crank anymore.

Why would it suddenly decide to crank one minute, and not the next minute? Recently I was troubleshooting crank but no start (ended up being crank position sensor), but I'm not sure where to begin with a no-crank issue. I confirmed the large negative battery terminal cable is going to starter mounting bolt.

 

[rubydist]

Its related to the battery to starter wiring most likely. Its also fairly easy to knock off the solenoid wire while you are messing around down there, so I would check that too. I have also seen the solenoid just go bad for no apparent reason just because it got touched, so that is also a possibility. I would do the screwdriver-across-the-solenoid-posts test to see if you really have power to the starter.

 

[tamadrumr88]

Just had a chance to work on it again. I'm getting a popping sound (I think from the solenoid) when I try to crank starter, and all dash lights seem to go dim or dark afterward. Starter does not turn over when I crank with key in ignition. After a couple "pops", interior lights and dashboard are dim/dark even though battery has 13.15v.

I have 13.15v across the terminals on the starter solenoid, and im getting a spark when jumping the solenoids. What to check for now? The "hot" wire for starter was never removed, and I've confirmed the ground is attached properly at the bellhousing / mounting bolt

 

[Irish Pride]

Sounds like a bad connection at the battery or at the starter. Double check all your connections. Clean your battery terminals. Check the battery cables for corrosion. You can bypass the battery cables with some jumper cables. If it still wont crank with the jumper cables then id have to say you have a bad starter.

I just finished an engine swap on one of my SHOs. Got it all back together and cranked it over like you did with the DIS disconnected. Plugged the DIS back up and started it one time. It sputtered for a couple seconds and died. Went to restart it and, nothing. Starter went bad that quick.

 

[tamadrumr88]

Removed starter. Tried jumping starter directly from battery, ended up with a little welding action (see attached pic). Why would this happen? Polarity was correct and cables weren't crossed.

Figured starter would roll over when jumped (positive battery terminal to left side of starter terminal, negative battery terminal to starter housing on right side where mounting bolt passes through and battery ground attaches)

 

[zoomlater]

I had a starter that died right after an ATX tranny replacement

 

[rubydist]

sounds to me like the starter has shorted out. I would get that checked since you have it off the car.

 

[tamadrumr88]

Had the starter tested at Advance Auto. Everything worked as it should, so it's not the starter.

Not understanding what happened here... the only wire that came off the starter during the gasket replacement is the ground that attaches to the long bolt on the bellhousing (which I reattached during install).

When I jump the wires at the solenoid, I just get a bunch of sparks but the starter doesn't turn over. That tells me it's not the solenoid either since that's bypassing the solenoid.