Starter? Battery cables??....Wont Start!!!!

[tdog]

Hi Guys,

Let me start off by saying you've got a great & informative site here!......Heres my delema....Went to start my 88 Silverado 5.7 yesterday & it started but kinda slow like battery was dying......later went to start again, tuns over real slow like battery is dead..wont start ........So i got new battery....starts once,....I pull pos, Keeps running , No prob ........Turn it off, try again & back to the same thing.Turning over but real slow like battery is dead again...wont start!! .....gauge shows charging as normal.......So do you think it could be starter or cables???.....thanks for any help I really appreciate it.....tdog

[Shaners]

Check your chassis ground, and make sure all your cables are in good condition.

 

Remember all your cables etc... are 16 years old if OE equipment, and they may need replaced.

[MCourson]

Are your lights and everything else working good like the battery is good? If so I had the same problem on my 94 5.0L about 15,000 miles ago and replacing the starter fixed it.

[seadoons]

 

Experience has told me that just because the battery is new does not mean that it is good - I swapped the battery out in an old car with a new one - and the same crap happened. Took the new battery back to the store, they tested it, and it had a bad cell. When home with battery # 3 and all was good.

[tmf6902]

I would check your grounds...nothing will drain/ruin a battery faster than a bad ground

[tdog]

Yup....lights, Radio, heater....everything works fine except starting.....when & if you get it running it runs fine.......thinking now it must be starter or cable.....thanks

[JamesB]

Do you have those dual positive cables? The ones were there are two cables connecting to the postive post? If so, you might have corrosion between the two. Had this prob. on the Oldmobile that the wife had before we got her the Tahoe. Everything seemed fine except it wouldn't start....

 

Just a thought...

 

James.

[tdog]

Well I took off the starter & to my suprise The housing on the nose of the starter was cracked & broken right off !!!!! anyone ever seen this happen ???.......I hope it didnt screw up the flywheel too bad, althouth I did see some shavings .......I'll get a starter tomorrow & try her out.......WOW!!!

[Ben]

My guess is bad pos battery terminal. Posted here and other forums many, many times and usually the cause in over 80% of the cases.

 

Here's the link to the gm-trucks.com article: POS Battery article

 

Text from that article:

 

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If you've ever taken the positive post connection apart, you could have the infamous GM pos battery problem. Kills alternators, batteries, pos cables, starters and host of electrical problems.

 

Here's my standard reply:

 

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....note that the brass nut is drilled out and just acts like washer. There are TWO OEM lugs on the battery terminal, then brass nut, then accessory lug (3 wires, two 50 amp fuse holder, one 30 amp fuse holder) and alarm power wire. Have since gone to store bought that looks very much like this one (it's shown on #1 Son's battery page).

 

 

Article on the Suburban forum

 

TEXT from that article:

 

That bad battery post design can/does kill alternators, batteries, starters, battery cables, and wreck havoc with other electrical circuits.

 

Think many don't know what Traveler and I are talking about. Here's an example of what is happening and the cause'n affect:

 

Take the battery positive cable lug and unscrew it from the battery (disconnect it). Manually hold the cable lug to the battery post. Start the vehicle. Now touch, remove, touch, remove the cable lug to and from the battery pos terminal. THAT is EXACTLY what happens when that stupid lead spacer crushes and allows the bolt to bottom into the battery pos post.

 

The alternator sees the battery, charges (provides oltage/current), then the connection goes away. Voltage at the alternator goes up (maybe several hundred volts, instantly...or almost that fast). Then when the contact is made again, the alternator will see huge load (maybe hundreds of amps, instantly...or almost that fast). This is called load dumping and will kill a good alternator in short order.

 

Above load dumping will also kill the battery in short order too. Over voltage and over current. Also will have high resistance terminal, meaning voltage drop, meaning current used at that spot. That current usage turns out to be heat...high enough to melt the battery case, which will allow battery acid to leak into the joint *AND* down the cable (cable acting like a wick and cable insulation acting like a hose...carrying battery acid down to the starter...starter don't like battery acid).

 

Another cause is that there is a lead spacer between the two cable lugs on the battery post. One time use, as 2nd time tightening the bolt will have the lead washer too short to provide resistance and allows the bolt to bottom out inside the batt pos terminal. That then cracks the batt case, allowing acid to leak...ditto above, ruining cable, starter, alternator, battery, etc. Throwing away the lead washer, cutting off the plastic from the lug blades (flat part only) and replacing the washer with stack of brass washers that won't allow the bolt to bottom is a fix.

 

All of the above then has this affect on the vehicle computer: turns it on and off. Or various components of the vehicle. Which one??? Who knows and not always the same one. Engine dies for no apparent reason. Doors lock and unlock for no reason. Window motors burn up for no reason. Lights turn on, off for no reason. After market alarms turn on/off and lose their programing. ETC, ETC, ETC.

 

Another way to avoid/manage the lead crush washer is to use a hardened brass bolt that is threaded whole length, that is longer than needed and a hardened brass nut. Put nut on and screw it to the bolt head. Stack up all of the lugs on the bolt, then screw the bolt into the battery pos terminal till it hits bottom, back off 1/2 turn. Now turn the nut down onto the stack of lugs while holding the bolt hex from turning (do not allow bolt to bottom into the batt terminal and only HAND tight). Tighten the nut till it's tight and makes good connection. This way you'll be able to keep that lead spacer and not have to cut off the plastic covers on the lug blades...

 

This avoids bottoming the bolt, which is one cause of acid leaks (cracks battery case), other is high resistance and the heat generated melting the batt case...causing acid leak.

 

Another potential is jumping another car while your engine is running. Here is hot link to that thread at hot link below.

[tdog]

Changed the starter ($35.99) at AA.,,,,Woked like a charm!!! ......thanks for all the replys........T

[BenJammin]

not to bring this thread back from the dead, but i had the same situation on my chevy truck.

 

wednesday, i installed my sub and amp, while i was working i cleaned up the corroded positive terminal on the battery. The amp worked fine, the truck started just fine.

 

the next day it was dead. it would crank over very slowly once or twice, then would just click. i got a jump start, and it started, so i figured it was a bad batt. took the batt to uh-oh zone and they did a load test, the battery was fine, so i grabbed a $30 rebuilt starter and put it in the next day. after that, all it would do is a fast click when you hit the key.

 

next, i read this site, and Ben's article above, and everyone else's comments. i replaced the positive and negative cables and terminals and put some di-electric grease on them. quickly and easily fixed the problem

 

moral of the story: next time you buy a battery, get a top post and a new power and ground cable. that's what i'm doing

 

 

Thanks for your help everyone,

Ben