Am I on my 4th starter since summer??

[wigan]

I have three starters on the garage floor right now and it looks like there will be a fourth. But before I go and waste good money I am on a fact finding mission to get as much info as possible. I sometimes wonder if I am doing something basically wrong. The latest starter was brand new and was installed less than a month ago and I don’t think I’ve put a 100 miles on it

I had the car in the garage for a about 4 days last week before starting up on a cold morning. As I cranked it sounded like a weak battery on a cold winters morning. Eventually it started and was ok from there. I left it standing again for a day and tested the voltage and was about 12.15V. When I went to start up again the battery sound very very weak, and at times I could hear a faint clinking noise coming from the starter when I cranked the engine, not the solenoid though, so I stopped and put it on charge. Tested the battery again and it was about 12.6v. Again when I went to crank it sounded very weak and wouldn’t fire, so I left it again and put the charger on. Later battery read 12.7V. Went to crank and all I got was the CLONK coming from the solenoid.

Am a doing something basically wrong?

 

[Roger]

I'd be very much inclined to thoroughly check connections and cables. You have all the symptoms of poor connection. If I had to bet, I'd bet on poor grounding -either the battery ground or the engine. I've seen where the best and most direct ground on a Sprite engine was the choke cable!
Just 'cos you have voltage at the battery doesn't mean you have amperage, and therefore wattage, at the starter motor.

 

[davester]

What Roger said. The battery voltage doesn't mean that much. Sounds to me like you've either got a weak battery that can't deliver enough amperage or you have a bad ground. Have you had the battery load-tested? You can't do it with a voltmeter.

 

[MikeP]

While one or maybe even 2 starters might have been bad, or spray paint rebuilds, I'd go with what's been said so far. Have the battery tested, it could have a bad cell or other problem. Clean the battery ground clamp connection to the body, take it off to clean it. Clean the battery terminals of necessary. Clean the solenoid terminals and cable connections. Remove and clean the engine ground cable, on both ends. Odds are, one of these is the problem and will fix it.

 

[tony barnhill]

I'm curious as to whether or not you've bench-tested the starters to see if they really are bad?

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Leads-acid batteries are 12.6V at rest.
12.15 is low.
What is your specific gravity of the cells?

Did you try a charger overnight before starting?
( see you charged it, but how long?)

Solenoid, most likely not.
As stated, cables, connections.

Starter circuits (high-draw side) are not rocket sience.

Put a voltmeter at the ground side of the battery (touch the post), the other on on the block (clean spot) and have someone crank it for you.
Should be less than 1V drop.

Same on the non-ground post, and on the solenoid where that cable connects, same test, same result.
Then, other side of the solenoid, and the connection on the starter, same test, same result.

You'll find it.

It's what we do in shops when we really are interested in finding the problem and not just throwing parts at it.


BTW, what is the voltage on the battery at 2,000 RPM?


I ask these questions on purpose, with a purpose....same kind of questions I'd want to know in the shop.

The answers will allow proper long-distance troubleshooting.

Dave

 

[Bob Claffie]

My son has a MGB that is so rusted that with the battery being grounded at the rear bulkhead and the starter being grounded at the cowl, there wasn't enough continuity for the car to start. Running a dedicated ground from the battery to the starter solved the problem ! Bob