Starter lifespan?

[dlmetzger]

How long do the starters last on the 3rd Gens? I live FL and don't put alot of stress on mine (50K). My FIL lives in TN and he's replaced his twice in 100K. I was surprised when he said he doesn't plug the truck in in the morning. If he did, I think his starter would last longer. What do you think?

 

[CKelley1]

we run a fleet of dodges and have a ski run a few miles from our yard most trucks average 50,000 miles per year we do not plug our trucks in and the grid heaters have been removed. none of the cr's have had the starters worked on

 

[HBarlow]

Starter life depends more on starts than time or miles. I think it is a very bad idea to avoid using the grid heater and block heater on a personally owned truck in cold weather. Someone who does that would probably prefer a gas engine pickup.

 

[NIsaacs]

The three trucks in my sig. are all on original starters with over 750,000 miles combined. I don't think it is years or miles so much that count but start cycles. The farmer or rancher that might start his truck 20 times a day versus driving back and forth to work or long haul and only starting it twice is the difference.



Nick

 

[JFought]

20 starts a day got me about 60K on the fist starter.

 

[Mark31]

This thread reminds me of a visit to an 80 year old electrical guru's place several years ago. On seeing my Dodge, he said something like "Humph---- I don't make any money on them. It's the Fords that that keep me working. GMC and Chevy starters last between 1. 5 to 2 times as long as Fords". He was straightening out a mess someone made on my old 1010 John Deere gas tractor that had been converted from 12 volt positive ground generator system to a 12 volt negative ground alternator. He recognized what was wrong in less than a minute, told his employee what to do and how much to charge, "and wrap and tape it all up so it will look good", then he was off for a doctor appointment. Mark

 

[EDankievitch]

Most of the time the starter motor is ok it's just the contacts in the starter solenoid. The motors are very reliable.

 

[mwilson]

A new set of contacts and a plunger once in a while, you are good to go.



Don't crank the starter to excess, always allow time for it to cool in between cycles.



I think the descent into starter Hell begins when an uninformed truck owner panics and goes to NAPA or where ever for a replacement, then the annual starter issues begin.



You are a lot better off to keep the OEM starter in top shape rather than replace it with a knock-off or rebuilt one with an unknown pedigree.



As always, just my opinion... . we welcome yours... .



Mike.

 

[jhenderson]

A fellow I help occasionally has a Clark grapple skidder with a 5. 9 BT in it. It has over 10,000 hrs on it. No heater grid(not used on off-road equipment) and no block heater. It has never even had a water pump replaced. Original starter, used down to -15 degrees. No starting fluid either. He probably starts the machine 5-8 times a day.

 

[NIsaacs]

Most industrial type equipment use the Delco MT 27 or MT 40 starters, or they used to back in the day



Nick

 

[dlmetzger]

Thanks for the replies. After talking to him a little more, for the last two years (spring/summer) he did a lot of start/stops going to garage sales. I he put a lot of cycles on them. He now uses a different vehicle for this.

 

[CKelley1]

harvey some of my older trucks have near or over 1,000,000 miles on them and 134 pieces of equipment with diesel engines with no block or grid heaters. i hate gas rigs nearly as bad as auto's, i am glad to find something we can disagree on

 

[Mark31]

harvey some of my older trucks have near or over 1,000,000 miles on them and 134 pieces of equipment with diesel engines with no block or grid heaters. i hate gas rigs nearly as bad as auto's, i am glad to find something we can disagree on

And still has time to play on TDR!!!

 

[CKelley1]

mwilson you got it. we do our own repairs. most people exchange the whole starter when a set of contact's was all that was needed. harvey the cr does not need the grid heater, it is not on the 5. 9 industrial the cummins part # for the block without the heater is 3922484 the heater is used mostly for emission control on startup. the best starting procedure is that recommended by cummins. start the engine keeping it at low rpm in a few seconds the engine will smooth out, start driving under light load. the diesel burns so efficient at idle that it can not properly warm up, the light loading does the trick.

 

[HBarlow]

harvey some of my older trucks have near or over 1,000,000 miles on them and 134 pieces of equipment with diesel engines with no block or grid heaters. i hate gas rigs nearly as bad as auto's, i am glad to find something we can disagree on

CKelley

The gas engine part of my comment was meant for DMetzger's father-in-law.

The HPCR engines may start just fine without a grid heater, don't know as I have never tried starting mine that way. The fact that Cummins installed one on my engine as well as programmed it to use the closed VGT exhaust brake feature for faster warm ups tells me that, at least, the use of the grid heater and high idle has a purpose and doesn't harm anything. I can assure you the engine and cab warm up a lot faster with the high idle feature activated against the exhaust brake than driving it does.

 

[CKelley1]

i use the better bd brake for warm up if i need to load something up before driving. if you will add a bd to the vgt you can see what a real brake can do.