What i've done so far...


I cleaned the ground strap on the transmission. I had to take off the muffler to get to it, but I cleaned it till it was a nice shiny brass!

put it back on and nothing. just the familiar hum.

I disconnected the battery and cleaned up the terminals and posts and tried it again...

nothing.

What I'm doing next.

Tomorrow I'm taking the starter to get it tested to see if it's the starter or solienoid. It's a rebuilt Bosch that i bought from NAPA.

If it's ok, I'll get a new battery and see if thats it.

Questions...

If I purchase the new battery, and it still doesn't go, do I check the ignition switch? And if I do...How do I do it?

Or should I replace the Battery Cables and Ground (battery and one to starter)

I used to be apprehensive about working on my teener, but I've gotten my confidence and am ready to work on it!

your experience and knowledge is welcome!

read ya soon!!

fat lando

have them test your battery as well. Even if it is holding a charge, it might not have the Cold Cranking amps left to churn the motor...
once you got a know good baseline, if you are still having troubles, I can look at it on Saturday if you like...
cheers
dtd

QUOTE (dinomium @ Mar 17 2005, 08:42 PM)

have them test your battery as well. Even if it is holding a charge, it might not have the Cold Cranking amps left to churn the motor... once you got a know good baseline, if you are still having troubles, I can look at it on Saturday if you like... cheers dtd

thats cool man thanx! I bet the boards are going..."land fix your starter!!!" so you can whine about something else!!

First, kudos on gaining confidence and starting to work on this!

Next: You can narrow this whole thing down much faster than the time it took to clean the ground strap.

If you want to do it quick, the first step is to jumper the starter's main power terminal to the solenoid terminal and see what happens. In a second you'll know a whole lot about the battery, connections, ground, solenoid, and starter.

Have you done this? If so, what happened?

If not: Put car in neutral with ebrake on. Touch screwdriver shank against main power terminal on starter (where nut holds large power cable). Push screwdriver tip into solenoid terminal (where large yellow wire attaches). Do it quick and firm - you won't hurt anything. Does it crank? More times that not it will and you'll instantly know it's the ignition switch or the circuit between the switch and the solenoid.

If it doesn't crank, then it could be the battery. Try jump starting it.

It's pretty rare for a starter or solenoid to be bad. Not saying it doesn't happen, just that other things fail way more often. I would definitely narrow stuff down before spending any money on parts.

You can field test the starter yourself (out of car) by using jumper cables. Attach two of the ends to a battery, take the pos other leed and attach it to the post on the starter and then touch the neg end to the side of the starter. You might want to put your foot on the starter because if it works the starter will tork. This will tell you if you still have problems with the cables/grounds. The starter still might be drawing too many amps from your battery, but this will help determine if it works.

There was another thread earlier that mentioned that the woven type ground strap can build up resistance internaly over time and cause problems. I'd get a replacement one from a FLAPS just to be on the safe side ($5-$10).

Did you clean the neg ground off the battery where it attaches to the cars body? For the magic to work, the loop must be compleat. Positive from battery to starter, negative from battery to body, body to trans/engine.

Whenever I have these types of starter issues (i.e zero reaction down there) and I have made sure of battery condition - including posts and terminals - I check the ignition switch before all else:

Put a test light on the wire to the solenoid and turn ign switch - if it lights up you have power through the ign switch; if it doesn't then suspect the ign switch circuit and start testing there (check for power to the switch, power out of switch etc.).

[SIZE=7] UPDATE!!!!

[SIZE=1]Took the starter to get checked and wouldn't you know, the solinoid was bad.

So i pick a new one up on Monday afternoon. I will ensure it gets tested and retested before I put it on......18 minutes is my time now.

thanx to all for the help and advice.


fat lando

Not surprised I had a 76 bug that finally worked after the third starter from flaps! Luckily only R&R'd once and then tested the other two before putting them up! Same as yours - 2 bad solenoids. Glad you got it going. John