Thank you all in advance for reading this: 54 Dodge Meadowbrook (converted to 12V) straight 8 - Starting problem. I have done a search but the background to my issue needs to be considered. Car has been sitting for about a month but was my daily before that - about 60 miles round trip per day - never any issues. I decided during the last rain to "clean up" the wiring under the dash as it was all brittle old cloth style exposed shit. Under the hood was solid, so I didnt mess with it at all. Just tightened everything and made sure all was well. I went wire for wire, one at a time under the dash as to not screw anything up - eliminated a couple dash lights that were just hanging in there, caped off a few wires which went to nothing.. the usual. So all done - put the key in the ignition, all accessories worked - starter cranked and few times and fired. Awesome. Started it again to make sure, (though never held a smooth idle) turned it off and reinstalled the seat, etc. Time to move the car out of the garage, turned the key and it cranked but didnt fire - ended with the sound of a spinning starter, (which it has always done since Ive owned it*) Turned the key again and under the hood *click... wtf?.. *click... shit. As I said, I did not touch anything under the hood - and all cables and connections are tight and in great shape. So - I trickle charge the battery for a few hours and replaced the solenoid. *click. Okay - back under the dash, all ignition connections are solid. Give the starter a couple of good whacks with a hammer- still just a solid click under the hood. I have gone over and over all the grounds and connections under the dash and under the hood, everything is tight and clean.. Now - before I get a new starter... I'll go have the battery bench tested, maybe pick up another solenoid too. Any other ideas? If I pull the starter and open it up - will there be some tell tale sign that I fried it? Maybe with all the new solid wiring I upped something it wasnt used to and fried it? Check points? Any input would be great. Thanks again!
Check the under dash grounds? It worked for my caddy anyway with almost the same issue, but the wiring is all screwed up there.
First thing I would do is try another battery.Sitting for a month then starting a couple times may have drained it bad enough that a short time on a trickle charger may not be enough.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. Had it bench tested and dude said it was like a brand new battery. Said it was showing 100% and perfect under load... I wonder if auto zone sold me a shit solenoid??
I am not familiar with Chrysler stuff, but some of the old ones had Delco electrical equipment. If it is a Delco, the solenoid has a plastic cap with the wires coming out. Inside there is a copper washer that makes contact for the starter. These washers get burned and an oxide forms which insulates very well. Take the cap off and turn the washer over or clean it well and clean the bolt heads it contacts. The spinning part you mention is a different problem.
if you had it tested at autozone dont trust it. Bad batteries test good there. I was trying to brake in the motor on a fresh build and I couldnt get it to turn over. I took the battery to autozone and it tested 100%. I put a volt meter on the battery and it showed 11.something volts but when I turned the key it dropped to 4. I would also make sure your battery connections are clean. It may be the solenoid though.....
this may or not be your problem but, i have a ford motor home, when i bought it, it turned over a few times and then just clicked. i replaced every thing in the starting system and it still just clicked. i also ran a ground cable from the starter bolt to the frame, still just clicked. the last thing i did, was to install a ground cable from the battery ground on the block to the fender well sheet metal and it started. don't ask me how that fixed it. i suppose some ground from the block to the sheet metal somewhere wore away. how did it start when i got it? i don't know. i was told the solenoid had to grounded and some said it didn't. either way it worked. the only thing i don't get is, the factory didn't have one and it must have worked when it was originally sold back in '78. like i said, it must have been removed some how over it's life time. anyway, i am a happy camper now.
Have you tried jumping the starter from the battery directly to see what happens? Even though they said the battery was good, I would still try another one or at least jump start with another car then you could rule it out for sure.
Again, thank you guys. Couple things - went through all of the grounds under the hood again - flatheadgary - the ground running from the block to the battery is one of the new styles with the built in ground wire to the fender, so I took it off and cleaned it up along with the actual ground on the block. Scuffed everything else as well including the starter bolt.. still just that damned *click. And yes, dannyego - I agree you never know with autozone or kragen - I think I'll take the battery to napa tomorrow and have another bench test and buy another 13 dollar solenoid. oldbuzzard - thank you, though these are just those crappy solenoids and Im dealing with brand new ones so I dont think its a burn out. Overall, as far as this engine compartment, everything is clean. bright colored wires and sparkling battery posts. I also have full accessory power in the first position, (bright lights, blasting stereo, etc.) I guess my last resort is another new solenoid and batt test - if its neither of those - I guess its new starter time.
If your batter tested good, take your starter off......grab your jumper cables....ground your starter and hit the hot clamp to the starter. (Make sure you got a good hold on it or stick your foot with body weight on top of it, cause sometimes they'll get squirrely on ya), it should spin its ass off.....if not.....rebuilt starter. if good.......go one wire at a time tru your starting circuit......take your time....you've only got about 3 wires to check...........you probably bumped something while you were under there...........
Take a good jumper from the positive terminal to the starter side of the starter solenoid. If that spins the starter, then I aouls suspect either a bad solenoid or a poorly grounded solenoid. You can also bridge the two large ssolenoid terminals with an old pair of pliers ap complete the batt to starter circuit. Question; Straight 8??? what engine are you running?
plym 46 - Im retarted - straight six flathead, I wasnt thinking. I believe its a 218?? Ive only had this meadowbrook for about two months, still learning about it. Thanks for your advice!
I would change to a 12 volt starter,for the simple fact that 6 volts don't like 12 volts.Aslo,everything is a negative ground now,so make sure you're running negative grounds instead of postive ground on whatever is grounded with a negative and positive post. Could have friend your starter if you weren't running something to drop the voltage to the starter.
If you engine is a Dodge code (D then numbers) itsa 230. Only difference is longer stroke. The 6V starter is built much stouter than a 12V starter due to the heavier current loads passing through it. Ohms law says current flow is increased as voltage decreases. If you think of electricity as a fluid and wire as the pipe, 12 V is a faster stream per volume and 6 v is a slower stream through a larger pipe. So six volt stuff will easily handle the faster moving but weaker stream of 12V supply. The only problem you may encounter with the starter is the the bendix engages 2X as fast as it chould and slams the gear into the flywheel harder than the 12V might. If you haven't changed to a 12v solenoid it would be a good idea to do so. Just grab one for a 12 V ford ad make sure its a self grounding one. The Ford unit will have 4 posts, two large ones for the primary battery cables and 2 small ones, on for the wire from the starter and the other oe that is hot while the solenoid is engaged. It is used to supply full 12 V tot he coil at start up, and it drops out when the key is released. However you do not want to run your coil (unless it is marked internally resisted) on full batery voltage, as it will sigificantly shorten the life of your ign points. Your ign wire from the switch should pass through a ballast resister whih drops voltag int the coil ti about 7 or 8 volts. If your coil is marked internally resisted it not necessary no is there any benefite to running the wire from the starter relay as the voltage drop is done inside the coil.
31VICKY!!!!!, hey dude, long time no see!.....yea, he's right.....be careful not to fry your solenoid.....starter can take the 12 volts just fine.........might have to do the resister thing...
plym46 thank you for all of the info, much appreciated. And yes I am running a 12V solenoid as you described. As far as the starter, I believe the previous owner must have had it rebuilt, or never touched it - as that starter looks bone stock. Chrystler corp badge on it with serial numbers, etc. Also wanted to make sure I reiterate that before I parked it for a month, I was driving it daily with no issues what-so-ever. This car ran really solid?
Clean and check all your connections, And is your battery fully charged after sitting? You could have a corroded connections from it sitting for a while. Is the Starter tag red or green, Green = 12V red=6. Also in your original post you mentioned you heard the starter spinning without turing the engine over. If that is the case you bendix may need to be cleaned up. Sometime they will hang up and either not engage or not release. If thats the case you wil need to pull the starter and clean it up. Its just t threaded section and a couple springs. The rotation of the starter spins the gear out on the shaft to engage the flywheel. When the engine fires the flywheel will tur faster then the starter can turn and is ofer speed is supposed to spit the gear back out of engagement. If the threaded section gets gauled up a bit it can inhibit the movement of the gear back and forth along the threads.
Also check inside your crimped on ends on those battery cables.....they can get corroded on up in there....causing a bad connection. If a connection isn't all spic-n-span.....make it that way, any crap on there gives you resistance.........
Got it. Starter has a red tag. So must be the stock 6V. I went over all connections with sand paper and a wire brush yesterday - so def not the connections, no corrosion in sight. And plym46 - yes. Since Ive owned it - the starter will crank and crank and end with that spinning noise when it doesnt fire. Was wondering wtf caused that.. figured something was stripped in there. Spoke to Napa this am - they have a starter tester over there. New plan is to yank the starter as you suggest and open it up and see what I can find. If its obvious I will clean up the bendix and anything else I see and try again... If not - I'll take the battery and starter to Napa and go from there.. Thanks again to everyone that has chimed in.
Also.....when you get back to the car, hook up a multitester to your starter solenoid wire, turn the key, be sure your getting the voltage there before you hook everything up. If the wiring is as crappy as you said.......you might have a boo-boo coming thru the firewall.........
here a couple of months ago i was having close to the same problem and it turned out that my fields inside the starter were shorted out.
Again - Thank you to all who helped me with the issue - turned out to be autozone sold me a defective solenoid. Popped in another one from Napa and the damn thing fired on the the first crank. Again, many thanks!
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