The starter checked out OK, now what?

Here is my story. I went to start the Jeep on Monday morning. It cranked very slowly, which is very unusual but it did start. Now, what I should have done is use my 'ol '85 Blazer to go to work but took the jeep. At work I cleaned the battery terminals and tried to restart it in the afternoon. Slow with the voltmeter down at 8-9 volts but it did fire up. Went out at 5pm and except for a real feeble spin, it just clicked. IIRC, clicking could be the solonoid or, a dead battery. At this point the voltmeter didn't budge when the key was in the on position. Buddy of mine, tried to jump it. It was as if the cables weren't connected. I then wacked the started with a big wire cutter a few times and tried to start it without a jump - zero. I then tried to jump it again but, this time waited a bit and after 5 (or so) seconds, the voltmeter climbed to above 10, I cranked it and it went off. I got home and checked the battery and without the car running, it was at 12.8 volts. I want to add that I checked the lights when the car wouldn't crank and they were bright so I assumed my problem isn't the battery. It's a 3 YO Cosco with something like 845 amps. I put the battery on a Tender overnight and yesterday morning it's 13.8 volts. I have the starter out and went to Autozone and they checked it out as OK.

FWIW, I sent for an AC Delco starter at Rock Auto (that has a new solonoid) and will put that in since the old one is out anyway. I cleaned up the battery ground connections and will put the starter in tomorrow when it arrives. Anyone have any comments as to what my problem was (is)?

Thanks, Fred
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If the battery was completely drained, a battery tender wouldn't have charged it over night. You need a full blown battery charger for an extended period of time. If it charges at 10a, figure 5-6 hours minimum and 10 or more is preferred. When cranking if the voltage drops too low, the computer shuts down, even if the starter is still cranking.

You have most likely flooded your engine. You may need to pull the plugs and dry them out or replace them.

Thanks Tom,

Issue is, that the battery wasn't drained. That's where I'm confused. Even when the car didn't crank, I turned on the headlights and had full brightness indicating the battery wasn't dead? When the car fired up after the 2nd time we jumped it, the Voltmeter went immediately to 14 volts and when I got home and took a reading of the battery (without the car running), it was at 12.8 volts. Overnight on the battery tender (with a green dot reading) it was at 13.8. So, it's not the battery and (according to Autozone) not the starter. I figured, being I had the old starter out (15 years old), the smart thing to do would be to put a rebuilt in anyway. My time, and worry about the starter crapping out in the near future, isn't worth the $85 that the rebuilt cost me. What do you think? With all this, are you still saying battery?

Sounds more like the battery than the starter. It is not a matter of how many volts you have, but the amps available to turn over the motor. The voltage may look normal across the board, but have reduced storage capacity. 14 volts while the car is running indicates that your alternator is charging. Now you need to load test the battery. Autozone can do that for you too.

Get the battery load tested - that'll tell you for sure.

You can run the headlights well past the point when the starter will not turn over - headlights draw around 8 amps each, the starter draws several hundred. Headlights will tell you if you are REALLY screwed (i.e. completely drained battery) but will not tell you if you have enough power to run the starter.

You guys are right. Didn't even think of bringing the battery there for a load test. It will have to be tomorrow and I'll update the situation then.

Thanks, Fred

ps. even though I put it on a Battery Tender and it's reading full (sitting) charge of 13.8 Volts, that won't "screw up" the load test with a false reading, will it?

No, not at all! In fact we couldn't get a good reading on my friend's MJ battery without leaving it with them for an overnight charge.

Batterys are the weakest part of the charging/starter system. If the battery is older than 3yrs, don't bother to test it, replace it.

The second weakest area are the lead connectors. Make sure the point of contact is clean on both sides; they make a brush just for this purpose.

Ron

Good battery = amps + voltage.

As stated, charge the battery overnight (Ok), or for 24 hours (best), then have it load tested.

Starters like amps, and don't give a damn as to the volts. You can have a starter that will crank the engine fine, but not enough volts to fire the electronic ignition (less than 9 volts).

Cold will show a weak battery pretty quick. Cold in NY lately?

From the way your voltmeter was showing zero sometimes, even when jumping, I'd check out all of the connections and grounds involved in the starter circuit. Pull them apart, clean them and reconnect them securely. You don't have the battery connection where the two bolts and a sheet metal clamp hold the wire to the battery post connector do you? If so, get something better. Those are shit.

Ok, this is what I did. First, I cleaned the ground connections. 2nd, I put in the rebuilt AC starter from Rock Auto. FWIW, I like the AC rebuilds - I put one in my Nissan a year ago. 3rd, I replaced the battery. Autozone said it tested "OK" but did drop down to 10 volts for part of the test when he said it should stay above 12. I got 60% return from Cosco so it only cost another 20 bucks for a new one. All is OK now and I appreciate all the help.

ps. I took the old starter apart and the brushes were fine - lots left. A lot of throw off ***t though in that area. At $85, it made no sense to me being I had the old starter out (that was 14 years old with 80K miles) to put it back in.

winterbeater said:

You don't have the battery connection where the two bolts and a sheet metal clamp hold the wire to the battery post connector do you?

Click to expand...

I don't think so. Sounds like bubba to me.