When the engine and starter heat up, the starter looses efficiency and the engine might get tighter.
Check the:
- battery (parts stores will do this for free)
- voltage regulator & generator (a good electrical shop might bench-check these together)
- starter (if you are going to keep your truck for a while, buy a spare from NAPA: about $70).
The 8v battery is an indication that something else in the starting system was wrong, and, instead of finding the culprit(s), a stronger battery was used (a common short-term fix that avoided the real problem).
If you have to buy a new battery, get a good 6v battery, and you should also buy new, bigger, 6v battery cables (2 gauge or bigger - I use 00 (2/0) gauge, simply to eliminate any concern about inadequate cables).
As has been posted many times in the past (
one example ), starting problems are usually caused by:
- weak battery
- wrong-sized cables (I'd bet these are wrong 80%+ of the time)
- weak starter
- poor charging circuit (generator/regulator)
