Starter slows then stops

keywestwego

keywestwego

Junior Member
I am new to the group and new to "old" cars/trucks.
I bought a 1931 Model A (truck) and it cranked and drove up until this past weekend.
In a hurry and I hooked up the battery backwards..pos to pos/ neg to grd. "Dummy"
The starter spun but truck would not start. It hit me what I had done and the ground wire was hot. I let everything cool down, changed the hook up and tried again.

Now, the starter is VERY slow and comes to a complete stop. I did not smell or see smoke when wired backwards. Did I burn the starter up? Can it be rebuilt or just buy another one?

Thanks all in advance.


Cliff
 
The starter does not care if the battery is positive or negative ground. It may be just worn out and needs a rebuild.
 
keywestwego said:
I am new to the group and new to "old" cars/trucks.
I bought a 1931 Model A (truck) and it cranked and drove up until this past weekend.
In a hurry and I hooked up the battery backwards..pos to pos/ neg to grd. "Dummy"
The starter spun but truck would not start. It hit me what I had done and the ground wire was hot. I let everything cool down, changed the hook up and tried again.

Now, the starter is VERY slow and comes to a complete stop. I did not smell or see smoke when wired backwards. Did I burn the starter up? Can it be rebuilt or just buy another one?

Thanks all in advance.


Cliff
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Good Morning Cliff. Welcome to the Barn and the "adventure" of owning a Model A. No "Dummies" here. Just consider it a "Learning Experience".

I would be surprised if you burned up your starter. I run mine on 12v neg. ground without a problem.

I would start by checking your connections and battery condition.
 
I agree that having it reversed did not hurt anything, because it did not start and the generator did not have a chance to kick in and charge the battery backwards. So no problem there. Starter motor doesn't care. So, this sounds like a classic case of a dead battery or bad connections or both. The fact that one terminal of the battery was hot suggests a bad or corroded connection. Get one of those terminal wire brush cleaners for battery terminals at any auto parts store and clean them up really good. Reconnect the terminals tightly and put a 6-volt charger on the battery and let it charge as good as it will. Oh, and don't forget to make sure the water in each cell is full to the split ring.

Now the fact that it would not start is yet another issue.....

One question: What was it that caused you to take the battery out in the first place when you put it back in backwards. Sounds like prior to that, things were working.....?
 
Thanks all for your input.

Magicbox51: I took the battery out to put a charge on it but saw I only had a 12v charging station/maintainer. Headed out right now to get a 6 v charger. I tested the battery leads and it shows 6.02v. Could be the cranking amps are not there.? The battery is 2 years old per date on side.
 
A 6 volt system / starter needs larger cables than 12 volts.

6 volt Cables are about 50% heavier (larger wire).

If someone installed the 12 volt cables that might be part of problem in addition to bad grounds and connections as mentioned.

The lighter 12 volt cables will not handle the current that a 6 volt starter draws.

Many auto parts today do not carry 6 volt cables.

If they try to tell you that it does not matter, its time to look for another auto parts store.
 
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keywestwego said:
Thanks all for your input.

Magicbox51: I took the battery out to put a charge on it but saw I only had a 12v charging station/maintainer. Headed out right now to get a 6 v charger. I tested the battery leads and it shows 6.02v. Could be the cranking amps are not there.? The battery is 2 years old per date on side.
Click to expand...

Take the battery with you and have it checked out!
 
Fhane said:
Google BATTERY VOLTAGE CHART. 6.02 is just about a 40% charge.
Click to expand...

An off the cuff comment on that information:

40% should crank the engine, all other things being ok. Having said that, the 40% stat is an estimate based on only the reading of the voltage. I would still have it checked out. Assuming the battery is a little low and not dead, and assuming you have proper battery cables for a 6-volt application, that points to one thing causing the problem, and that is the connections. 6-volt systems draw 2x the current of a 12-volt system. Therefore, the contact points for those battery cables to the battery posts have to be very tight and free of corrosion and dirt. It is a must with 6-volt systems.

One other thing is that it is recommended to have a second ground cable. This cable would connect from the chassis ground point where the battery connects to the frame and goes to one of the starter mounting bolts to the bell housing.
 
Cliff, welcome to the barn! Old 6V systems are remarkably forgiving about polarity. Many car makers used plus grounds with their cars, in fact it's hard to think of one that didn't. I knew a guy who rode around for a year in a 48 ply. (All the gauges read backwards) until I came around and the leads. Your problems are from a low battery and a poor ground (+) Take the connectors off and clean them good. An old Boeing engineer used tell me "Clean, Bright and Tight!" I would also recommend an auxiliary ground cable from the ground bolt to the bell housing. This bypasses the old, probably rusty, path to ground. This can solve a bunch of little problems for you. If none of this works for you, letus know and we'll hatch plan B.
Terry
 
You guys are a wealth of info.

Magicbox 51 had said to charge: Red to ground. When I checked polarity on the battery, I got red was positive and black negative.

Should the battery, itself, have a reverse polarity?

I am about to put a charger on the battery but want to put the right cables on the right posts. Will report back after I go through all the suggestions tomorrow with a fully charged battery.

Thanks again to everyone!!!
 
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The battery should be marked. One connection will be Positive +

One will be negative -

Red from the charger to +

Black to -
 
I'm thinking about a bad cable connection, especially to the frame. The cable could also be too small, should be a minimum of #1, preferably #0.
 
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