No crank no start

[AJ Abshire]

I have a 2004 5.7 4x4. It died on me at a stop light so I had it towed home. I tried to start it and all it would do is make a single loud clunk noise. I replaced the starter today, and it's doing the same thing. Like the Bendix is engaging but isn't even trying to turn the motor. I took the belt off and was able to turn the flywheel so I'm assuming that it isn't locked up. The battery is fully charged and I swapped the relay around with another one to see if was that. To no avail. I have two wires going to the starter. Is that what it should be? Any help would be appreciated guy's. Thanks in advance. Just to be clear, the starter doesn't even attempt to turn the flywheel just makes contact with it with a clunk and that's it. I inspected the teeth on the flywheel and they look great.

 

[Fast69Mopar]

I have a 2004 5.7 4x4. It died on me at a stop light so I had it towed home. I tried to start it and all it would do is make a single loud clunk noise. I replaced the starter today, and it's doing the same thing. Like the Bendix is engaging but isn't even trying to turn the motor. I took the belt off and was able to turn the flywheel so I'm assuming that it isn't locked up. The battery is fully charged and I swapped the relay around with another one to see if was that. To no avail. I have two wires going to the starter. Is that what it should be? Any help would be appreciated guy's. Thanks in advance. Just to be clear, the starter doesn't even attempt to turn the flywheel just makes contact with it with a clunk and that's it. I inspected the teeth on the flywheel and they look great.

If the only thing you are getting from the starter is a clunk and the bendix is not engaging I would inspect the positive and negative battery terminals to make sure they are tight and then test the battery. A failed/failing battery can cause the engine to stall like it did at the stop light. If you have a DVOM or a simple volt meter you can measure the OCV or Open Circuit Voltage of the battery. If you have below 11.0V on the battery then it is going to have a hard time engaging the bendix in the starter and spinning the flexplate.

If you do have a good, hot battery and the starter will not engage then something else is the cause. What I mean by a good, hot battery is one that is properly charged with and OCV of at least 12.3V and at least 50CCA away from its CCA rating.

 

[justinclark1847]

Did you try jumping the starter relay ? Or even jumping the positive on starter to solenoid?