How heavy a jumper did you use? The starter is gonna pull huge amount of current, so it would have to be a very heavy jumper to make it work.

Have you tried taking a very heavy jumper, read screwdriver, and connecting the two terminals on the starter?

 

OK one more thing I can add. I dont know if I did this right but I measured the ohms or resistance...that upside down U thing...lol. I know ou guys think I need to give my tools away. Im thick as a brick when it comes to electrical. Anyway...from the relay to the starter on the positive side I got .2and from the battery to the starter on the positive side I got 1.9 so I'm thinkin thats where the problem is. If I remember right from shop class that means I have an open? I cant recall...well I'm going to Oreileys to return the starter and relay and get a positive and negative cable and see if that helps. If you have any other suggestions id be oblidged. One thing a guy at work said is the actuator under the steering column might be bad but if that was bad how would the relay click?

 

Yeh I did try jumping across the terminals at the relay and on the starter. I was using jumper cables to do this, so it was probably heavy enough.

Oreileys and autozone didnt have the right cables for my truck and Napa was closed. Any one know how these cables should route? The negative goes down along the frame where it ties into the frame and carrys on to the starter selinoid. Why is the ground going to the starter selinoid terminal? Isnt the starter already grounded to the engine? I took it off of that terminal and bolted it to one of the starter bolts and that made no difference. The positive goes to the relay then on down to the other terminal on the starter selinoid. Ther is a smaller gauge wire connected to a small terminal on the selinoid. Iam really baffled here I alwaysthought starter systems were pretty straight forward...battery selinoid and starter. What else can there be.

 

OK guys I got it goin....You all were right it was the cables all of them. Guess they were just shot. Well the guy bought the truck after all that, so you prolly won't have to put up with my shenanigins anymore...lol. I'm goin back to my 79 at least I can work on it. That 92 was way too complicated for me. It was nice to have air conditioning though. I just wanna thank you all for your help. You all did me a great service I really needed that money quick ....thanks!

 

Things I did to track it down. The truck will crank if I short across the solenoid. That should show that the starter and the solenoid are good. The truck want crank with the ign switch. I am not getting 12volts when the ign switch is engaged at the solenoid. Can anyone tell me what my next step should be to try to solve the problem?

 

Which two posts are you shorting across on the solenoid? I assume you are shorting across the two large posts, correct? If so that won't prove the solenoid is good. You need to short from the large post that has the large battery cable and the other medium size cables on to the small post that has the little slip on wire on. That will test the fender mounted solenoid.

Shorting across the two large posts on the solenoid just provides a direct connection to the starter. If you were doing it correct, disregard my post.

 

It was the switch at the transmission. The problem is solved. Thanks