Before you say it's the battery..it doesn't do it all the time. The click sound is similar to when the battery is low/dead. Sometimes it will start fine, other times it clicks while starting but starts fine. Other times it will click and not start. A few times it will not even turn over, just dash lights. If I wait a minute it will sometimes start. New ignition switch and starter did not help. Battery was relocated to the trunk since last winter. Tightened all nuts, and ground is clean.
Clicking noise when starting
- Thread starter narongc73
- Start date
sptsailing
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The following is my opinion. I am not going to go through the calculations, but the starter motor draws a very high current, which would require very thick copper wires both from the negative and positive terminals from a trunk battery location to avoid having the effective voltage at the starter remain high enough under load. Using even the same gauge wires as found in the original battery location would be inadequate, as would expecting either the steel or aluminum in the car body or engine to substitute for copper for any connection to the starter.
I'm using 0/2 wire, pretty thick. I was thinking of adding a thicker wire for grounding. It worked fine for 6 months. I'm thinking maybe the battery is just old and not up to the task, especially with the longer positive cable. Although if that was the case, it would do it ALL the time. i even tried jumping it and same behavior. I'm going to try jumping it at the engine compartment next time.
tdiatlast
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What makes you think "...it would do it ALL the time..."???? Batteries are incredibly fickle, especially in 21st century cars. If it's right at the edge of adequate voltage, it's going to be intermittent.
Have the battery load tested.
Have the battery load tested.
sptsailing
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A simple but conclusive way to test is to simply measure the actual voltage the starter is experiencing at its terminals when starting is attempted. Please post your resulting voltage.