Was hoping to finally replace my lift pump today, but ran into a slight problem..

I have to remove the starter, and the mounting bolts appear to have a strange head. Can someone here confirm that they are 10 MM / 12 point? I guess I have to buy a metric socket set anyway, just want to be sure first. ( I was hoping they were not metric. ). I have a 10 MM / 12 point wrench and it appears to fit, but not as snug as I would expect.

And speaking of starters......

I have had a few incidents over the last few months where the starter does not operate correctly. I can here the solonoid click, but it won't crank. I try cycling the gearshift and that usually does the trick. Then, the other day, The starter motor remained engaged AFTER the engine started..so I immediately shut it down. I panicked and purchased a new starter, but now I am not so sure that was wise. I am thinking that before I replace the starter, I should replace the starting relay and neutral safety switch since they are cheap...and the ignition switch since I suspect it is sticking..maybe even squirt some oil into it..Batteries are good and I cleaned the terminals after the first incident. What do you think?

And finally, let me lump one more subject in this post. I was going to do a 3000 mile oil change like a good CTD owner, but it is still clear and clean on the dipstick! I guess that means I won't have to worry about rings anytime soon. So I am going to check again every few weeks but as of right now an oil change doesn't seem to be necessary...unless someone here can convince me otherwise.

Thanks,

 

Well, I can't answer your question about removing the starter.
As far as not starting correctly, I am having about the same problem in my Dakota (except my starter has not stayed on). I have not looked into the problem yet (I'm have a lot of other work to do on my truck, which I will do in August).
As far as the oil change, I have a post (#25), and if you buy the correct oil (with a link in that post that shows you some oils that meet thest standards) that Cummins says you can do a 15,000 mile intervail, or 7,500 for the other grades of oils. Doing an oil change every 3,000 in the CTD is nothing more than a waste of your money, since these engines will live forever even if you extend the drain to 7,500.

 

I had a similar problem with my 2000 gasser.
Started the truck and the starter solinoid stayed engaged.
Pulled the fuse for it and had it towed to the dealer to be checked out.

Usually, I follow the 7500 mile change on my 05

 

I believe the starter bolts are SAE, but dont hold me to it.

anyway with the starter hangine up that could be alot of things, but as long as it disengaged after you shut the engine down things are fine.

lastly, I go nearly 10K on my oil, soon going to go longer since I'm switching to synthetics soon.