When a failing starter is really a bad cable

If you’ve ever had the experience of a starter going bad at ever-decreasing intervals — the first one on the truck from the factory lasted 500,000 miles, the next one 200,000, etc. — you could be experiencing a phenomenon noted by Danial Mustafa, TA Truck Centers’ Director of Technical Services. Absent the right diagnostic equipment to troubleshoot conditions all along the loaded-up electrical and electronic systems of modern diesels, too many technicians, he says, essentially throw parts and components at any given problem, particularly in the starting and charging system. This special edition of Overdrive Radio is Mustafa's presentation at the Expedite Expo conference in July, where he detailed the increasing electrical demands in modern diesels and offered ways to troubleshoot them, and troubleshoot technicians' recommendations for maintenance, as it were. Find a related video in the August 14, 2018, post on the Channel 19 blog -- OverdriveOnline.com/Channel19.