My husband and his mechanic are pulling their hair out over this. The situation is this: HELP!
I purchased a 1968 GMC 2500 pickup from the second owner about 6 months ago. It has the original 396 and Turbo 400 automatic that it was built with. The truck has 65k original miles and the condition shows it. It was used with a cabover camper for fishing trips only and sat most of the time. I purchased this truck to use in conjunction with two other C20’s in my business.
About 2 months ago I experienced trouble starting the truck, so I bought a new battery and had my garage, a former Chevy dealer, order a brand new Delco starter from Summit racing in Reno. That starter lasted about 2 hours and the truck had to be towed. I had the garage reinstall my old starter while they ordered another from Summit. The new one lasted about 2 days, yes brand new.
To shorten this story, over the next 3 weeks, the garage has installed 6 more starters from NAPA. O’Reillys and another parts house in Redding, about 70 miles from my town. All have either failed or would not start the truck. Many would not even get the truck out of the garage. I am flummoxed, as is my mechanic. He is ASE certified, as is his son, his father and his grand-father before him. He has sought out experts on starters to no avail.
The truck has, once again, the original starter, which is working great, but I want a new or rebuilt one. Any ideas?
Keep using the original starter. Have it rebuilt… if you can find a shop to do that… when and if it fails.
By the way, Delco no longer exists (and hasn’t made starters in over 20 years) so those are not real Delco starters. This 55 year old truck will give you more worries than the starter. As you found, replacement parts, especially for older vehicles, sucks.
Is it internal failure or external? Does the nose and Bendix throw match your old one?
Good question. We will call our mechanic and find out.
Thank you!
A high torque starter may be available if spinning the engine is an issue.
The starter just clicks when you turn on the key. It doesn’t engage at all…on all the different starters we have tried. Have the old/original starter back in but don’t want to get stranded. We live in a rural area and often I don’t have any cell phone range when out on a job.
Mechanic says that he has yet another starter. BTW. They are not charging me for all these starters and not even for all of their time. It is a puzzle.
Good question. We will call our mechanic and find out.
Thank you!