Starting trouble. Help!

[EvanR]

At first truck was starting fine but once it was warmed up I shut it off and now it won't even click. I tried jumping it and it worked half the time but the other half, again it won't even attempt to turn over. My radio and electric fan both worked the whole time. I'm thinking my starter might not have a good ground or my solenoid might be bad. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[geezer#99]

Check your neutral safety switch.

[VetteVet]

The two biggest causes of this condition are the NSS and a condition known as heat soak on the starter solenoid. Like Geezer said the neutral start switch might be mis adjusted or just going bad. If it only happens after running for awhile then I suspect heat soak.

You can test the NSS just by pulling the purple wire connector off and jumping between the two wires. A cotter pin works great for this, just don't let it touch any grounds. Just remember that the truck will start in any gear so make sure your in park or neutral or the coil wire is off if you have points and the distributor BAT wire is off if you have HEI ignition.

If the truck starter fails to turn over then you can test for heat soak by jumping from the large cable on the solenoid to the S terminal on the solenoid where the purple wire connects. Same safety precautions because it may start in gear.

This condition is common where headers are used because they allow more heat on the starter than regular exhaust. When you jumped it you put more voltage to the solenoid to overcome the resistance of the heat soaked starter.