TR2/3/3A Sluggish Cranking Update

[karls59tr]

I checked all the ground connections to see if they were clean and secure but no improvement. The one connection I missed was the cable from the solenoid at the starter. That is located in the heck hole underneath the carbs near the bottom of the header. In order to gain access I had to remove the rear carb and it's heat shield. I was then able to get a wrench on the the cable bolt to have a look at the cable end. It seems that the wiring under the cable end was coated with road gunge and oil creating a high resistance. I cleaned that up and put everything back together and now the car starts right up. My voltmeter gauge seems to read more correctly now too.

 

[mezy]

Its great when we get to hear of the outcome of these horrors. more often than not the good people of this forum spend time, effort and knowledge, then the issue allong with the thread just dies of death,
Glad you were able to find the problem causing your starting issue, and thanks for posting the cause and remedy,

 

[Popeye]

Awesome!

 

[Sarastro]

It's important to recognize what you're up against with starter-circuit problems. The starter pulls something like 125 amps in normal circumstances; on a cold day, the starter has to work harder, so it pulls even more current, and the battery is less able to provide it. Because of such a high current, even a very small resistance can be a problem; a few hundredths of an ohm means a few volts lost. Moreover, most of the resistance in the circuit is in the connections, not the cable itself. So, it's very easy to get a little more resistance, even in a joint that looks solid, and you then get starting problems.