Have a 2000 300 A.C. 4x4. Hit electric start and all I get is a loud buzz near the recoil start. Funny thing is that if I have the key in the headlight "on" position, when press the electric start, the headlights go out for a bit and the gear position indicator lights go out for a bit. I have a full 12v's coming off the battery. Could the starter be shorting out or hung up? Is there a relay in there anywhere that could cause this? Any help would be great. Getting sick of pull starting the thing. Thanks!

 

You have a bad connection somewhere or battery is bad. Check grounds and cable connections, check voltage at battery when you are trying to crank. If battery voltage drops below 9 or 10 volts battery is notg putting out enough current. If voltage doesn't drop then you have a bad connection. Hope this helps, TORK.

 

Artic4,

I am pretty sure the buzzing sound you hear is your starter selinoid. As TORK said it is not getting enough juice from the battery to engage and turn the starter. Two things could be causing this 1-Low battery or 2-A bad starter selinoid.

You should be able to follow the Positive wire fromthe battery to the starter selinoid. Cleaen check its connection and then follow it from there to the starter.

Try putting the battery on a 2 amp trickle charge (you should never charge these little 12V batteries with more than that at one time) over night. Then try it again.

If for some reason you decide to replace your battery. I would suggest going to Wal-mart, or similar store. Take your old battery and get one that is the same (or close enough) in size with the battery polls in the correct location/orientation. It will be cheaper. I think AC wanted like $80 and I paid $22 for the same battery. It has been in the machine for almost 2 years with no problems.

Hope this helps.

Oh, Welcome to the forum too.

SJ

 

just by a new battery. i had the same exact problem with my 03 300 4x4. the battery was putting out a full 12volts but i still bough a battery for like 40$ at autozone and everything works ALOT better. head lights are brighter starts better runs better and my winch works better.

 

That's because when you changed out the good battery with another good battery you broke the bad connection loose (maybe even cleaned it before installing the new battery) and when it went back together, it worked right. Same thing would have happened if you had just disconnected, cleaned and reconnected to the old battery and saved yourself $40. The battery won't make your lights brighter if the connections are clean, as the lights run off the motor's charging system when the motor is running. You had a bad ground connection.

 

Ok, bought and installed new battery. Trickle charged for 10 hours. Unfortunately, basically the same thing. Could the starter be bad, drawing more than what it should? If I put the charger on the battery at 10 amps, I still can't get the thing to spin enough to get the engine going. Pull start works fine. Am I premature in ordering a new starter?

Bear, just read your message. I guess your were right.

 

idk, i cleaned all of the connectors. i sanded them all down and brushed off the nodes on the battery. it would start and run but i had now battery life. if i ever used my winch it wouldnt start the next time.

 

Did you check your charging system for proper operation, because it should recharge the battery to full. Were you using the winch with the notor off or at idle?

 

Haven't even moved it out of the garage. Charged the battery up, tried to start it with the electric start. 1st push, I get about 2 or 3 turns on the motor and then it stops, after the 4th or so push on the start button, it just clicks at the starter. There's plenty of juice to operate the winch and lights, just not enough to turn the starter enough. Thanks for helping me out on this. I'm trying to avoid bringing it in!

 

Figured it out. The starter relay was bad. I bypassed it and it fired up every time. Thanks again for the input.