Bad Ground???

[Northwood Cobra]

Could a poor ground at the battery cause the starter solinoid to ratchet during starting. It seems to be much worse when the car has been at temp and then setting for about a half hour?

Terry

[Michael C Henry]

By ratcheting you mean clicking repeatedly? that is not enough current available to starter .Could be battery ,ground and hot cable.The ratcheting -clicking, is the solinoid being pulled in magneticly. When the heavey current is switched to roll the motor , the current draw that it takes to rotate the motor will drop the voltage at the magnet and the solinoid opens .breaking the heavey current switch ,again and again.click-click- click-click. It is all a big circle battery- positave cable- starter -ground- battery. The supply is not enough for the demand.

[trularin]

Well stated Mike H. More than likely, you have a low battery, but check the resistance between the battery negative terminal and the engine block.

[Northwood Cobra]

That's exactly whats happening. I'm thinking I probably screwed up in the ground area, with the battery at the back of the car I only used a standard battery ground cable but I attached it thru a self tapping screw that's holding part of the body on. So there is even a piece of fiberglass between the end of the cable and the frame, so really, the only part of the ground wire that's touching the frame is the self tapping screw. The rest of the starting system is #4 wire with heavy terminal ends. I'll redo that and see if that corrects my problem.

Thanks alot, Terry

[Michael C Henry]

A circuit is a complete circle.Any point in that circle can be a problem.A bad cable end may show continuety but won't pass the kind of current needed for starting. Also a bad connection may let the starter start the car for a while.but it may not effectively recharge the battery.It will let the current out but you can't get it to take on a charge or as much as possible. Things happen batteries go bad .Starters go bad. cable ends come loose and corroed. If you remember a few months a member had a sudden problem with his starting system turned out to be the cable end came loose from the cable its self most commercially manufactured cables have crimped ends. I like soldered ends crimped and soldered and sealed are the best.
Even a bad connection at the battery terminals can cause problems. I've even seen wire that looked OK, no contniuety. It turns out the wire had been but soldered at point of manufactuer before the colored insulation was applied. this was on a floor buffer power cord.It was one conduter wire inside a three wire cover. I seperated the conducters from the larger sheath and probed the bad wire with a pointed tester when I found the bad area I stripped it down to the bare wire and found the break at the soldered joint.The soldered area was only about 3/16" wide but it caused a less flexable point in the wire.It wasn't apparent from the outside but the cord didn't work.I never would have thought that they would do that in the manufacturing process .

[RichBurroughs]

Your best bet is to run a separate long ground cable from the battery directly to the engine block, then take a short ground cable from the engine block to the frame. Attach it to the engine and frame with a 3/8" bolt and it is a good idea to make sure it is contacting bare metal if possible. Engines are often electrically isolated from the frame and it is critical (for the starter and ignition system) that they get a good ground. Grounding this way is a a hassle and costs a bit more, but it should save you problems down the road.

[Northwood Cobra]

I thought I had this licked but I thought wrong. I did as you suggested and ran a #2 wire, w/ soldered ends from the battery and connected it to a bolt on the bell housing right next to the starter. It started great when the motor was cold and after a 30 min drive, if I shut it off and started it right back up it started great as well, it even started after 10 min. But, if I waited 30 min the starter solinoid would start doing its thing again. I'm lost. I've tried two starters and two starter switches as well.

Terry

[Ron61]

Terry,

Try having the battery load tested and if it is ok, then look for some kind of drain that is pulling the battery down after you stop the car. You said it took 30 minutes before that happened again and that would kind of point to a drain or a weak battery plate. Also be sure that you alternator is charging as much as it should be.

Ron

[Michael C Henry]

During my cars reserection .With the battery charged ,car started . Voltmeter showed it was chargeing.After sitting for a day low battery ( if I left the master switch on). Turns out I used a cross between the wiring diagram with indicater light and without.I changed a couple of wires and It blew the voltage regulater when I first turned the ignition switch. I questioned the alternater shop and he insisted that the wiring I had just arranged was correct .He went to show me with the new regulater I had just bought .Turns out it was bad. A third voltage regulater and I was in bussiness.The car charged as before but the discharge quit.

[trularin]

Mike, had the same type of problem a while ago, took three voltage regulators as the "Solid State" unit was not delivering the righ voltage to the field to get the alternator running.

Northwood, get the car started and, while it is running, pull the positive battery terminal and see if the car stays running. Read the voltage.

[Northwood Cobra]

I don't know if this makes a difference but I'm using a 130 amp one wire alt and a DUI distributor with the voltage regulator built into the cap. The car always starts after it's completly cooled down as well so I don't believe it's a charging problem but I'll try these things anyway and see what happens.

Thanks, Terry