She sat in the garage the past few months, but the battery is good (checked the voltage with meter) and the interior lights come on. When I turn the ignition key, I get a rapid clicking sound. Is this the starter or solenoid on the inside of the fender?
Thanks!
Matt
In addition to cleaning the connections, check to see if the cable is getting 12 volts at the point where it hooks up to the solenoid. If it does have 13 something volts there, then your solenoid itself is toast.
Now I checked the starter lead side of the solenoid and there's no voltage. Is this correct when the car is off? Does the ignition switch trip the solenoid, and then supply power to the starter?
I'll get a trickle charger tomorrow and give that a go for a few hours. Probably not a bad idea to have one anyways with a classic in the garage long term. Surprised I haven't needed one for it in the past 5 years...
Matt
You've got the solenoid operation correct. It's just a big relay.
Don't bother checking the cable/connections from the solenoid to the starter, you would not get these symptoms if that connection was bad.
If it's a trickle charger, 5 hours probably isn't going to be long enough... you should charge it for 24hrs or longer. If I was you, I'd buy an inexpensive charger that has a switch so that you can switch between 2amp (trickle) and 6amp or higher for normal charging. I think I paid $50 for mine and it even includes a 50amp "start" setting.
Thanks everyone for your inputs! I charged the battery all day and she started like a champ!
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