Alternator/Battery/Starter

First let me say sorry if I posted this in the wrong board, I didn't see a tech one just the tech archive one. As I said in my intro I am not the most savey of people when it comes to fixing cars. I got one to try learning some stuff.

My 53' was having some problems starting up. It wouldn't always fire right up It would kind of sound like it was trying to turn over but wouldn't. So I would wait for a minute try again & it would fire right up. I took it to the mechanic down the street to have the battery tested, it tested fine but when he tested the alternator it was pretty dead. So I pulled it & had it send it to his guys to have it rebuilt. I got it back today & hooked it all back up. When I went to turn the key nothing. No sound of the car trying to turn over, nothing. Head lights didn't work, horn didn't work. Figured it might be the battery, took it to the guy had it tested, it was fine still. Cleaned the terminals on it made sure everything was tight, hooked the wiring to the alternator again & still nothing. So I brought over my other car & tried to jump it to see if that would do anything. It did absolutely nothing.

So I guess after the long winded entry my question would be what do you guys think might be happening? Think maybe they didn't fix the alternator right? I am 99.9% sure I hooked up the wire that runs from the alternator to the batter to the right spot.

Any advise?

 

You can pull the starter and have that tested. The more info you can share with us the better we may be able to help... What motor you have ETC.

 

If it was the starter though the lights & horn would still work, wouldn't they?

 

Good point...missed that during my first read-thru. How about checking your grounds. Battery ground....ground to block, frame and body.

 

Start by checking the starter solenoid. Sounds like a modified electrical system, but it should have the solenoid on the fenderwell...just follow the main positive cable from the battery.

2 types of solenoids they may have used during the 12v swap.

one would have 2 big terminals, and two small ones. One small wire terminal should be marked S. Then hook a 12v jumper and touch that S terminal to see if it will crank...Make sure it's out of gear.


The other solenoid type they "may" have used only has one small terminal, and it might need to be grounded to make it crank. This would be if it still has the one-wire starter push button on the dash.

 

Thanks guys. I will have to check thee out.

 

The car will start and run without the alternator working, although not for long, so I think I would look elsewhere. Since this happened right after you R&R'd the alternator, I'd really be checking that the wiring was hooked up right or that you didn't knock something else loose.

 

This same kind of thing happened to me in my Econoline. Started acting funny when starting then just quit. Battery tested fine but all the lights worked though so figured it was the solenoid. Replaced that and still nothing. Checked the ignition switch and that didn't seem to be it. I took a spare battery and hooked up jumpers - Neg pole to frame and pos pole to the bolt on the starter (tapped for a second) that holds on the pos wire coming from the solenoid and it started right up. that eliminated the starter. So not the battery, solenoid, ignition switch or starter...had to trace all my wires. There it was. Wire was rotted inside the casing. Looked like a brand new wire from the outside.

I'd check out the solenoid and the wires. maybe try that battery jumped right to the starter trick if you haven't had it checked already just to make sure that's not it.