vern hodgson
Well-known member
So my battery reads 6.3 volts, but when I hit starter it barely turns over the engine, acting as if the battery is dead, where should I look for a problem? Battery, ground connections??????
Sluggish starter
- Thread starter vern hodgson
- Start date
Chuck Dempsey
Well-known member
You'll want to make sure you have a very good ground for the starter. Too much paint can 'kill' the grounding. I went ahead and grounded the battery directly to one of the starter attachment bolts, and made sure the battery-to-flywheel case had plenty of steel/steel contact.
eagle
Well-known member
First off, get a decent quality voltmeter and put it across the battery, check the voltage drop there when running starter. If voltage drops a lot, then its either a starter pulling too much current or a weak battery. If voltage stays relatively stable there, then put the meter from the ground post of the battery to chassis, you should get only a couple tenths drop there with starter running. Same thing when checking from power post to starter battery terminal, should be very little voltage when cranking. If you get much voltage drop, you have a bad connection or a bad cable. One thing to remember, lots of people will tell you to get rid of the 6 volt and convert to 12V. Problems show up sooner in 6 volt, but if everything is in good shape it will turn over the engine just fine.
vern hodgson
Well-known member
Also noticed when I started the car after sitting several weeks my horn barely spun after running engine about five minutes the horn sounded great.
vern hodgson
Well-known member
Gary, got this at tractor supply bout 2 years ago, but not run much, maybe dozen starts per year.
nkaminar
Well-known member
I agree with Eagle but would add to measure the voltage at the starter when the starter is running. That will rule out any problems with the cables and battery but not the starter switch. To test the switch you can jump to the contact on top of the starter with the cable. Be careful that you don't jump to ground somewhere. If all that fails to find any faults then you probably need to take the starter out and do some work on it. Start by cleaning the commutator with some solvent and check the brush springs.
Get a good quality desulfating battery maintainer to keep the battery in good condition when the car is not being driven frequently.
Get a good quality desulfating battery maintainer to keep the battery in good condition when the car is not being driven frequently.
Gary WA
Well-known member
Well I purchased 3 batteries from Sebos after they changed brands and all 3 were bad! Had them do a load test and all failed! So went to NAPA all good now!! But could be other things to! Ive had 6 volt batteries go for nine years by putting a maintainer on them once a month! If not driven a lot..
Tom Wesenberg
Well-known member
When the drive end bushing wears a bit the armature can rub on the field shoes, which will make it drag. The commutator end bushing rarely wears enough to be changed. The commutator should NOT be undercut on starters. The heavy springs and copper brushes keep the insulating material worn away.
vern hodgson
Well-known member
That may be the problem, hooked up the charger for less than a minute, charger read full charge, unhooked charger and starter spun as it should. So,, get good battery and use maintainer in the future.
Terry NJ
Well-known member
A few years ago, I had a weak/slow starter and after reading Tom W. on auxiliary ground cables, decided to make one up and install it , not expecting much! I did and I was pretty surprised at how much of a difference it made. Not only did it spin and start faster, but the battery's reserve of voltage lasted longer. I wonder how this could be until I thought about it. Lessee, you ground to a frame rail and the ground current's path then goes through a riveted steel joint and eventually joins with the engine block. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot of power gets lost going through those rusty joints. Bypassing all that steel and rust with about two feet of copper line and a more direct ground connection makes a big difference. Furthermore,I had online friend, who had been an engineer for Boeing and his words to live by when doing electrical work were "Clean, bright, and tight!" And as long as it's only an auxiliary cable, you can use 12V cable. It's not the best, but It will do the job.
Terry
Terry
Bruce of MN
Well-known member
My car did fine for a long time, but then was a bad starter. It turned out that my starter cable was smaller than a #4! A proper cable made all the difference.