alright so i ran my car out of gas a couple nights ago and had to have a flatbed bring it home. now i charged the battery overnight and it didn't seem to start it the next morning, so i bought a new battery, even though the one i took out was less than a year old. now it STILL wont start. the car has good power to everything but when i turn the key the starter turns really slow, then stops. then i let go of the key because it wont turn, and try it again, same thing occurs, it'll barely turn and stop. what could this be? starter doesn't click, battery is definitely good. the car has a 6 volt system by the way i just want my car to START!
I would double check all connections. Also see if you can start with a boost, your starter may have been on it's last legs and trying to start it repeatedly may have done it in.
You put gas back in it right? Just kidding. Clean all your battery connections at the battery and at the starter, solenoid, and ground (frame/or body). Check your cables also, are they frayed or undersized? 6 volts like nice sized battery cables, don't use 4g cables. Do you have a frame to engine ground also? Always good to add one for better grounding. Grounds are good. If all checks good. Jump the starter or pull it and bench test it.
i only had it towed for 2 miles. and yeah i put gas in it haha. and how wexactly do i jump the starter?
Disconnect the battery. Use jumper cables, one connected to a ground (or better yet the engine) and then touch the other to the starter post. Don't connect it, your just checking the condition of the starter, not trying to start it. If it turns well then most likely it's you cables or connections. Make sure its out of gear! 6er or yblock? Doesn't matter, just curious.
okay well what part do i use, do i put the negative on the block and the positive cable on the starter????? theres both a positive and negative on each side what do i do?
54 ford 6 volt positive ground. So the neg goes to the start terminal. The other (positive) can go on any good clean ground or clean bolt on the engine should be fine. + from battery to a ground. (the engine will work) - from battery to the starter terminal. Just touch the cable to the battery for a second to see if the starter turns over faster, don't clamp it and run your starter for a while. Make sure it's out of gear. Don't clamp the last connection in the circuit and let the starter run on. You'll burn it out, if it isn't already This is just a way to isolate the issue. Is it a bad connection or a bad starter. Always good to buy a 54 ford engine and parts manual if your planning to fix things yourself and are going to keep it fairly stock.
so i put the negative on the starter post and the positive on something like the block? im only getting half of what i need to do here
Did you try this? If so what was your end result? I have a similar situation except it died on my drive way after a long drive. Parked it for 5 mins, went to restart, heard a click/pop a nothing, no sound, no lights. Tested the battery and its full 12V. Thinking its the starter relay or voltage regulator or starter, could be cables some are old and insulation is peeling off. Oh the joys of rebuilding
An engine need 3 things to start...fuel, spark and compression. Check these things and what ever is missing will lead you in the correct direction to fixing it. We can make wild *** guesses but it really needs some one to do some diagnosing and not just guessing.
I've heard of the starter sticking in the engaged position also. Might want to check your points and make sure you are getting good spark.
Sounds to me like a good time to just stop what your doing and remove the Starter from the car and take it to a local rebuilder for a bench test. There is generally no charge for that. You can throw parts at it all day long and spend a lot of $$$ over a simple issue for a real mechanic.
^^^^Been there...... Also, make sure the starter gear is not jammed against the flywheel, locking it up
FiftyFour started another thread on his progress... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8852707#post8852707
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