starter only clicks?!?

[warrior86]

hey guys, i have a 94 blazer with 348k miles on it...it runs like a car with 80k until this problem. Here in NY we had rain for about 8 days straight. On the 7th day i went to start my truck to warm it up and "click" and that was it. No cranking at all....just a click noise whenever i turn the key. Figured it was the battery so i just took my mustang so i wouldnt be late for work. Tried to jump it when i got home, but still only got a click. Not even a slight turn of the motor. OK, so it must be the starter. Replaced with rebuilt starter which was a PITA, turned the key and click. I honestly dont know what else to check for. I tried jumping it with my dads explorer with good jumper cables and still only got a click. THe battery meter read 1 bar below middle. Im 19 and no mechanic, but i am mechanically inclined and i dont know what else to look for. My friend is a mechanic and he is still pondering some ideas, but other than that...we are both unsure. The click reminds me of my friends 351W motor that was locked up for some reason and the starter just went "click". Could it be that the motor was somehow hydrolocked?? THe motor was running fine when i parked it the night before and i dont recall going through any big puddles. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

again, it is a 94 s-10 blazer 2 door tahoe edition 4wd with 4.3 HO fuel injected motor...thanks

[Sparky2263]

I'm hoping you own a voltmeter. If not, ck. and clean all connections and disregard the rest of this post ;).

You need to ck. voltage drop on the positive and negative side of the battery to isolate which side is the problem. What is Voltage drop? It is the resistance in a circuit that causes the voltage to drop from its' source.

Negative side voltage drop. Connect one end of the meter to the negative battery terminal. Make SURE and touch it to the battery terminal, not the cable or terminal bolt. Connect the other end to the starter nose (good connection). Now attempt to crank. If the problem is in the ground side, voltage will jump to between 3-10 volts. If not, it will stay below 1/2 a volt.

Positive side voltage drop. One end to (you guessed it) positive battery terminal. Other end to positive terminal on starter. Reading is as above.

If we're running a 12V circuit, then both sides of that circuit depend on full voltage running through them. Anything over 1/2 a volt indicates excess resistance in the circuit and needs to be addressed.

Most common problem with your symptoms is a bad battery connection.