If you have charged the battery a faulty alternator will not keep the engine from starting. Put a socket on the crankshaft bolt and try to turn the engine to see if it is seized. If it turns, briefly jump between the small and large terminals on the starter to see if the starter engages.

 

Shoudn't I get a click from the starter regardless if theres spark or not?

 

I was thinking it may be the alternator since the truck was dyeing. If there is a faulty alternator would the truck still run? If the engine is seized would that mean its just a bad starter or somethings wrong with the engine. It looks like it may be the starter. Would a bad starter cause the engine to dye after it is started?

 

The truck will die if the alternator is bad and you kill the battery but since you say you charged the battery, a bad alternator will not stop the truck from starting.

If you can't turn the engine over by a socket on the crankshaft bolt either the engine is seized or the cylinders may have water in them. Either way it is not a starter problem it is a major internal engine problem.

A bad starter will not cause the engine to die while it is running.

The way I hear your problem is that: 1. the truck overheated 2. the engine quit 3. the engine will not turn over now. All of these may or may not be connected. You need to find out first if the engine is seized. If it is not seized you may have a starter problem or possibly a battery problem. If the engine turns with a socket by hand, briefly jump between the small and large terminals on the starter to see if the starter engages. Once you do what I have said let me know the results and I will tell you what to do next.

 

a bad starter should not cause a engine to die after it starts. a bad alternator should not stop your truck from running. you can run your truck off of just battery power but it will just not run as long as if you have a alternator. if the engine is seized it will have to be replaced or rebuild. if the oil is white it is most likely seized.

 

I asked if a bad alternator would cause the truck to die. The oil is not completely white.

 

no. the starter only clicks if the battery is low enough to not start your vehicle. i had a couple cylinders on my truck full of gas and the engine would not turn over and the starter would not click

a bad alternator should make no difference. oil is not suppose to look even close to the color white. maybe black but not white.

 

I would drain some of the oil and add a few new quarts to it to try and bring he water level down. Water doesn't like to be compressed much so if there is any in your cylinders you could end up taking the heads off.

Take the starter right off, it may not be engaging right so check th teeth on the flywheel and the starter itself. Could be misalingned. If the starter looks alright try to turn the motor on by the crankshaft with a breaker bar and the appropriate socket.

 

Wouldn't it be better to bring the starter to autozone and have them test it? I wish I wasn't working 60 hours a week and it wasn't freezing out. It doesn't help them my first child is due any day. Any idea on how many qts the 360 takes? I have a bunch of Ams oil 10w 30 that I bought for my CJ7 but could use on the Ram if needed. I can always order more.

 

Should take about 5 qts if you change the filter. I worked at autozone so I know that not all of them have the machine to test them, but if your local store does it's much more convenient to have them do so.