1969 vette wont turn over, electrical problems.

[lance jaglowski]

couple of days ago the starter finaly died on my vette so i went out and bought a new one. it should have only taken 10 mins to replace, but its going on 4 days now.

with the old starter the car would start up, but only if it was jumped. the starter was too weak to start the car with just the battery.

this new starter is brand new, and its a high torque one. the contacts that go on the posts for the starter were cleaned up before it went back in. me and my dad werent exactly sure as to how the wireing went, but after looking at a wireing diagram i think its hooked up right.

when we go to start the car, you can turn the key and nothing happens, doesnt even make a sound. the interior lights dont dim, all exterior lights work, and the amp meter on the cluster will either go all the way down to -40, or just a hair below 0 depnding on how the starter is wired.

so far weve tried wireing it up about 5 diffrent ways, layed a screw driver across the starter trying to get it to spark, which it wont, tried to jump the car off of a battery charger, tried arcing the current with a screw driver to start it, and rapping on the starter with a hammer while turning the key, we just put new heads on the battery cables, and weve tried 2 batteries. it almost seems like theres a bad ground some place, but we cant find it.

my dad did hook a multimeter up to it and there is juice flowing through the cables. reading right around 12.5 to 12.75 volts, same as the battery.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Wayne P.]

Re: 1969 vette wont turn over, electrical problems

Is there a ground between the block and frame?

[William C.]

Re: 1969 vette wont turn over, electrical problems

if you can't get the starter to work with a screwdriver jumping from the battery post on the solenoid to the S pin on the solenoid you either have a bad ground, Bad connection at the battery, or bad solenoid. Does the solenoid engage?

[Chuck R.]

Re: 1969 vette wont turn over, electrical problems

I agree with Wayne's thinking. Make sure that the grounds are all making solid connections not just at the starter, but also off the battery as well. Could also be that the cranking amp guts are gone on the battery (not knowing how old) it is.

If the starting system has been boosted alot due to a weak starter, the battery may have paid the price.

I'm surprised that you can't get any sign of life out of the new starter by jumping terminals. May just be a defective "new" starter Lance. It happens.

Chuck

[lance jaglowski]

Re: 1969 vette wont turn over, electrical problems

yes, there is a ground between the engine and the frame. that was never touched when we took the old one off and put the new in.

as for the solenoid, i dont beleive it does. my dads the one thats been messing around with that, and from what i understand is that there isnt anything happening.

the grounds should be makeing good contact all around, although i do question the one comeing directly off the battery. weve got a new head for the negetive that we may put on, already replaced the positives.

the battery is fine, its brand new and was tested before it came home. its a very large and heavy battery with a ton of cold cranking power.

and as for the starter, already had that tested too. works flawlessly on the test machine.