battery/starting problems

[ShoreMan]

so in the last 2 months ive but in all 8 new GPs, new relay, 4 new batteries and a new alternator. the last three things were in the last 2 weeks. i now have guage on my battery voltage and after i put it all on i was reading 14.1. now im at 11.5 and its hard starting. i think the starter is gone bad but i really dont think it would drain the battery except when i go to start the truck(10 mins). when i go to start it turns over fine but the way i phrase it is, "its not catching" its got the RPMs up enough but i cant get it to actually start. and this is wearin my battery down. is it my starter and if it is the starter and i replace it, will the draining of the battery stop once i recharge them?

jake

ps. the starter was my friends old one since mine went up in the mcdonalds parking lot one night and i replaced it there. trucks got 365K on it so its not like its a suprise its going up.

[ShoreMan]

bump. please help.

[lcducote]

considering the amount of miles on your truck i wouldn't hesitate to replace all of your battery cables. often enough they do get worn and develop shorts, although its not a common problem.

also it could be your starter solenoid.

[zpd307]

hows your fuel filter? how old is the oil. i just got mine and it seemed to take longer to start when it was cold. i changed the oil and ran some mystery oil with it to clean things up on the inside. i also changed the fuel filter, which was noticeably dirty. now it starts up a lot better cold..... also check your ground connections..... check your voltage off the alternator when its running. then check your voltage at the batteries when its running. there should only be a couple of tenths difference between the two. if there is more, you have a bad connection somewhere. either in the grounds, connections at the solenoid, or your battery cables are junk.

[TexasAggie09]

Do the easy things first...change your oil (unless you know when it was last done) and check/change your fuel filter. Check your battery cables at the battery. Mine was old and cracked and losing contact causing some of my problems so I replaced one of them and cleaned the others. Do you get the same problem if you jump the starter?

[gilhooly]

should be the starter. My 99 SD was doing the same thing and it was the starter that was draining the batteries. Put a new starter and she fires up great and the diference is amazing.