Is it the starter or the battery?

[Kenneth B.]

Re: Is it the starter or the battery?

Mike,
There is a third player -- besides the starter and battery -- the wires and connections. Without good clean, tight connections and wire of adequate size one can chase ones tail around on a hard start issue.

TERRY beat me too it. I just had the same problem. Checked battery,starter,connections & ground. all was well but it would not start. I finaly found the pos. cable was frayed under the coveting. Replaced the cables & it started fine.

[Paul O.]

Re: Is it the starter or the battery?

Mike

Another item to to check is the Positive and Negative wires. There could be a problem that is internal high resistance. To check this crank the engine over if 1 or both wires are overly hot there is a high resistance in the wire. The current is going through less strands of wire causing it to act like heating coil in an oven and reducing the current available at the stater.

[Terry M.]

Re: Is it the starter or the battery?

Barry you do know in my business we send thousands of amps over some great distances, so the hundreds of amps in a typical automotive starter circuit is small potatoes.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Is it the starter or the battery?

OK you wizzards; my 63 L-76 just started to act up last few times I had it out. Over the past year I've been trying to sort out a correct AFB carb for my car and have had to do a number of long cranks. I finally gave up on the carb for the cool season so I can enjoy the car (winter meet, etc.). The problem started a few week ends ago; I go out most Sunday mornings to pick up the Sunday paper and the sales fliers from our local Walgreens and CVS (there are only few cars on the road then). Each time I stopped and shut down for about 5 minutes (engine full warm), when I'd go to restart, it begins to crank and then hesitates before resuming crank and startup. It's been a while since I've had any thing like this. What should I look at? (battery - 2 years old). distributor on time and functioning well enough for red line runs, cables maybe 15 years old, but clean and tight, or starter about 20 years old, but always reliable.


Stu Fox

[Stuart F.]

Re: Is it the starter or the battery?

OK. Believe I found the problem; My "F" terminal on the alternator wire was pulled out of the plastic connector. Wires look/feel brittle so maybe time to repair.

Stu Fox