dislexicmofo
Veteran Member
First, I have read Whitebreads "so your car wont start thread". It was helpful but I am running out of things to trace.
The background: I put a new head on the car, timing checks out, I can rotate it by hand still and feel good compression and the release of said compression, checked several times while doing the belt. I do not believe that it is anything mechanical.
Symptoms: When cranking it seems to be "weak", it turns over, but not as readily or as fast as it should. It is hard to describe, I may post up audio tonight.
I was actually having problems with this before the TB failure so this may be leftover. The full story on that is that it was having trouble starting for a few months, you could hear the gear engage but I think it was sticking because it would grind a bit after starting, and then it would not start one day. I pulled the starter in the parking lot and put in a new one and it still wouldn't start. You could hear the starter engage, but then no dice. So I pulled it and took it back, they tested it, said it was fine, I put it back in and it started right up. (I am giving this information is just to paint a complete picture.)
What I have already done:
All the battery cables check out. battery to starter, ground cable, ground strap on starter, all are 0.4 ohms or less, which should be fine.
The battery is good, I had it checked and then charged it all the way with my fancy new charger/starter (great deal at harbor freight right now, $65 for 200 amp assist, 40 amp charge), the problem persisted. (It should be noted that the car behaves as described even if jump started.)
I think that the starter is good, It engages and turns over. I replaced it less than a year ago with a cheap o'rielly part as described. I know this is not ideal but it is what I did. I will be exchanging it later today to be safe, in case they gave me a bad one.
I have primed the filter, lines, and pump with a mighty vac, three times as instructed in the previously mentioned thread. I get good fuel form all of the lines so there is not much air left in there. I don't get as much fuel out of the hard lines as I would expect, I have not had to do this since I ran it out of gas 3 or four years a go so I don't really remember what to expect when the engine is operating properly.
If the starter doesn't fix this does anyone have any ideas on where to go next?
I also want to say thanks to everyone that's helped. I bit off more than I thought I could chew but with the help everyone has provided I have made it this far! I don't want to end up towing it to someone this close... I can taste it!
The background: I put a new head on the car, timing checks out, I can rotate it by hand still and feel good compression and the release of said compression, checked several times while doing the belt. I do not believe that it is anything mechanical.
Symptoms: When cranking it seems to be "weak", it turns over, but not as readily or as fast as it should. It is hard to describe, I may post up audio tonight.
I was actually having problems with this before the TB failure so this may be leftover. The full story on that is that it was having trouble starting for a few months, you could hear the gear engage but I think it was sticking because it would grind a bit after starting, and then it would not start one day. I pulled the starter in the parking lot and put in a new one and it still wouldn't start. You could hear the starter engage, but then no dice. So I pulled it and took it back, they tested it, said it was fine, I put it back in and it started right up. (I am giving this information is just to paint a complete picture.)
What I have already done:
All the battery cables check out. battery to starter, ground cable, ground strap on starter, all are 0.4 ohms or less, which should be fine.
The battery is good, I had it checked and then charged it all the way with my fancy new charger/starter (great deal at harbor freight right now, $65 for 200 amp assist, 40 amp charge), the problem persisted. (It should be noted that the car behaves as described even if jump started.)
I think that the starter is good, It engages and turns over. I replaced it less than a year ago with a cheap o'rielly part as described. I know this is not ideal but it is what I did. I will be exchanging it later today to be safe, in case they gave me a bad one.
I have primed the filter, lines, and pump with a mighty vac, three times as instructed in the previously mentioned thread. I get good fuel form all of the lines so there is not much air left in there. I don't get as much fuel out of the hard lines as I would expect, I have not had to do this since I ran it out of gas 3 or four years a go so I don't really remember what to expect when the engine is operating properly.
If the starter doesn't fix this does anyone have any ideas on where to go next?
I also want to say thanks to everyone that's helped. I bit off more than I thought I could chew but with the help everyone has provided I have made it this far! I don't want to end up towing it to someone this close... I can taste it!
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. Also note that when they "test" the starters at most parts stores they are not testing them under a load- only checking to see if the pinion spins out and turns with 12V applied.