Starter Struggling To Crank

[Byrdman]

I have a 2021 with the 5.0 and the other day, the starter seemed to have a really hard time cranking over the engine. It cranked for a tenth of a second and then stopped or stalled, then a few tenths of a second later it cranked until the engine started.

I made it home and once I was in the garage, I tried to start the truck five more times. Out of the five, it did it once more, the second time. I thought it was a dead battery but the other four times, it cranked like normal.

I originally thought that the battery didn't have enough juice but if that were the case, it would have struggled the remaining times.

Starter heat soak perhaps?

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[missileboy]

I would definitely have the battery checked, it could be starting to fail. Heat soak could cause the starter to fail as well, but that usually take a few years. I would start with having the battery tested with a good scanner than has battery test module in it. crawl up underneath and look at the starter too and check all connections and grounds.

 

[Ricksc]

I would start with battery. There was someone on here a while back that had the dealership tell him it was a starter. They changed starter same problem. It was the battery.

 

[whosurpopi]

Did you ever find out the problem? My 3.5 is doing the same thing.

 

[unixadm]

Testing the battery is aood idea. I have a professional grade Midtronics battery tester, but I also have one of those cheap 25 dollar testers from Amazon with the small screens. Usually they are pretty in parity when testing batteries, so if you have $20-30 kicking around, I'd recommend picking up one of those cheaper battery testers. They come in handy.

 

[whosurpopi]

I actually figured it out. The starter bolt had come just a little loose. I was able to give them a good tightening and haven't had the problem since.

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