Within the next few days I'm going to pull that starter down and give the starter connections (power and relay) a good cleaning. I'm still baffled as to why the truck has to sit for a day or more for this problem to act up. It has never NOT started when I'm out and about. Is it possible a cold engine takes more juice (or more time) to fire up versus a warm engine?? BTW, is the starter grounded thru the mounting bolts?

 

Yep, starter grounds through its contact points on the bellhousing. (including the mounting bolts)

Cold engine IS more difficult to roll over. I think it's just a crappy connection though.

 

I'm no electrician but my radio gives me lots of static on one side of speakers until the dash is warmed up. I figure cold is contracting the circuits on the circuit boards and the microscopic vibration cracks that have developed over the decades are shorting across them. Then when it warms up the board expands and closes the gaps. I think something similar is what is going on with my starter wiring giving me that spinning pinion sound when its cold. Or as HY says it's just a crappy connection.

 

After looking at the photos I took of the connection (and the non sensical voltage reading) it pretty much exposed it as a prime suspect to me too. And it’s not behaving like it’s a bad starter either. I’ve never had a starter do this.

I owned a 1996 Dodge Coronet (318 ci) decades ago. Thing ran great. But the electrical system doomed it. Stuff gets old and it becomes unpredictable.

 

Dropped the starter, got the terminals cleaned up real good. Put her back in. Truck started right up but that only tells me I put everything back right. It doesn't tell me if my intermittent problem is solved. That will take time.

To drop the starter, the FSM says to decouple the steering shaft at the gear and flip it out of the way. I don't know, that may work but mine is secured with a roll pin that, after 30 years, has become one with my truck. So I took the starter out from underneath. Top mount is bolt, bottom mount is nut. Top bolt is barely available. PITA...very little room to work with. Bottom nut easy. Busted off relay-starter stud on the starter. Nut became one with the stud. Had to drill it out and use a #8 machine screw. Oh well. So we'll see how it turns out. I'll report back.

 

When I remove the top bolt, I thread a couple long extensions underneath, from the front, just behind the radiator, and fish around until I get it seated on that bolt. I have done this at least half a dozen times so now it isn’t a big deal. Practice makes perfect. While I’m on here, another dumb mistake from an amateur. I took off the bed to replace the fuel pump again. I knew I had to get the pump aligned right so that the float was free. I got it done but didn’t start it before I put the bed back on. Sure enough, the float was stuck. Gas gauge wouldn’t move. Got to do it all over again. Sitting here trying to motivate myself to bolt the bed down again. But the fuel gauge works now. I checked it.

 

Amazing how good we get after a half dozen tries. . I actually used a bizarre concoction of socket, extensions, adapters, swivels, and ratchet to break the bolt from above on the driver’s side. Did that a week before to make sure I could do it. Like you said, had to take a bunch of stabs at it before wrapping the socket around the bolt head. Of course once I got to that point I had an itch on my back and had to decide if that pain was worse than going fishing again.

And yes, I had to go back and raise the bed on my truck several times to get that damn fuel pump right. Took me two hours to lift the bed the first time. 20 minutes the last time.

 

Yep yep. Back in the day, when I was driving Volkswagens, I could change the clutch in my Sirocco in about 45 minutes, by myself.

 

Ha ha ha. I had a similar thing back when I was in undergrad. Totally broke, not a penny to spare. Had a 1978 Honda Civic. They had pre-combustion valves (or sumpin' like that) on them. A third valve for each cylinder. One of the o-rings would keep failing. First time it took me like 8 hours to find it and repair it. A month later, had to fix it again. Took 6 hours that time. Three weeks later, again. Took 4 hours. On and on and on in went. By the end (which was about the time I graduated), I would have to replace that o-ring if I wanted to go to the 7-11. It would take me about 20 mins. All for a 10 cent o-ring.

 

TEST 1: PASS

Truck sat two days and she fired right up today on the first try. I did have the meter on it in Max/Min mode and got gibberish again. Open Loop on Max and some infinitesimal amount of voltage on min. So not sure what's up with that. I'm obviously not doing something right. Doesn't help that I can barely see the solenoid connection. Who knows. I want 10 consecutive passing grades before I call it good. Might take a month or two with the little amount I take her out but I'll get there eventually.