DK45SE Starter doing machine gun imitation

[Athrawn17]

I've been scouring the threads a bit to see it I can find this already answered and haven't been able to.

DK45SE with 400 hours. New battery in the fall. First the ignition switch works to fire up the glow plugs. Then when you go one click further to engage the starter I got nothing. I've had the 12V relay on the firewall go bad before so I went out and got a new one. Replaced it and now when I turn ignition I get a "rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat" noise like the starter is spinning but not engaging? I'm crap when it comes to engine electrical. Note before I changed the relay I polished the battery terminals and made the ground connection all shiny as well.

Trying to determine what the next steps should be for trouble-shooting.

Thanks in advance!

 

[seville009]

Even though the battery was new in the Fall, check the voltage just to make sure. Always start with the simplest stuff……

 

[Athrawn17]

Yup, will check that when I get back to the shed. Would low voltage cause that sound/starting issue?

 

[RandyT]

A poor battery connection can also cause it. The load created by the starter cause a voltage drop that caused the starter solenoid to disengage temporarily, and then when the load drops the voltage returns which allowed the starter solenoid to re-engage. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Threepoint]

Athrawn17, this sure sounds like a battery issue. Since yours is only a few months old, hopefully it's good, but just not fully charged. Do you have a portable battery charger you can hook up for a few hours?

But even after some time on a charger, just checking the voltage may not be enough. You can read 12.5V on your voltmeter, get the rapid clicking of the solenoid that you're hearing, yet still not have enough power to crank the engine. I went through this a couple of months ago with my CK3510SE. Finally put a load tester on the battery and in my case the battery was bad.

If you don't have access to a load tester, try jumping the battery with jumper cables, or a jump-starter pack. But if the battery is badly discharged, jumpstarting might not work.

 

[Athrawn17]

Yup, I have a charger/starter. I hooked that to the battery when cranking which caused the clicking. Let me grab a video of it and post which might be helpful for troubleshooting as well.

 

[Athrawn17]

So looks like 10V at the battery

 

[murphy1244]

You don't seem to be charging at all

 

[Threepoint]

Bingo. And since the solenoid started clicking only with the charger/starter hooked up, this strongly suggests your battery is either severely discharged (hopefully) or simply bad. Is it possible that you inadvertently left the key switch in the accessory position after the past use, and drained the battery down? I've done that before with my NX.

I'd disconnect the battery first (to rule out a parasitic drain), then put the charger on it long enough that it should be fully charged if good. If the voltage still doesn't come up to 12.5 or 12.8, suspect your battery.

Pain in the rear, but I'd pull the battery out and have it fully load-tested before spending much more time on this problem.

 

[Threepoint]

Also, as Murph notes, you might not be charging properly during operation. One quick thing to check there is the tension on your alternator belt. Trying to rule out the simple stuff.