Opinions on the reliability of those things...like clerk says "starter checks good" and you're not so convinced....
Took Wifeys Xterra to Lowes last night....came out, wouldn't start. Had power to all the lights, just heard a soleniod click, wouldn't turn. Push started, drove home. Tried to jump it off the Mustang (running)...same as above, noid clicks, lights, wouldn't turn over. Went through some t-shooting, checked the terminals, fuses, batt had ~13.5 volts, dropped when the key turned. Went to the starter, had ~13.5 volts on the lug, turned the key and got about 13 on the solenoid in wire. Took the starter off, went to Advanced and had it checked...it worked on the bench. Anyway, I ordered another one, should be here tommorow.
Given that, any opinions on those bench testers...and any thoughts on anywhere else to look for a problem?
...it was a no load tester, give it power and it spun..itself...I did the same thing it did in my driveway..power to the 'noid and lug, it spun. Took it in there just to see what they had.........Hope it is just worn out, won't spin when loaded up.
The bench starter test is very accurate in the conditions tested, but it doesn't test all conditions such as temperature. The alternator tester is absolutely accurate so long as the engine maintains the same minimum rpm on the alternator as the bench does. Those bench battery testers are absolutely dead on balls on a fully charged battery and err towards bad on a not fully charged battery.
BV...batt is about 14 mths old....I went through it pretty good last year before I left for Afghanistan. Replaced it just because...originl was still in there and 4+ yrs old...didn't want to wifey breaking somewhere when I'm out of town . Battery is a suspect, but I did try to start it off of the Mustang...same thing.
I'm hoping the starter just won't turn with a load on it...maybe some kinda worn out. Bench tester was just a free spin...like I said earlier, I did the same thing it did in my driveway. Even tried checking power with the Mustang jumped to the X.....meter readings were .xx higher...seemed like the power was flowing good. After I removed it.... I was gonna put vice grips and a cheater bar on the starter gear, put power to it...hang on to the cheater bar......kinda load it up see what it did...however.....I'm older and wiser now, and I wasn't drinking beers while doing this.....
Did some net searching for Xterra-isms....kinda like how our PIP always craps out...didn;t find much other than some relay issues...but they are N/A.
Yup...starter....swapped it, good to go. Not gonna knock the parts stores and their bench testers....but, I'll just leave this info for future searchers.