So my car is cranking really slow sometimes, and sometimes so slow it won't even turn over. Then other times it will start right up pretty much. I don't think its the battery, cause why would it be fine sometimes. They lights don't dim much when I try and start it. I thought the ground wire was loose on the starter cause it happen once before. I pushed it on better started right up. Then today at work it was acting up again and wouldnt start cause it cranked so slow. any ideas?
Cranks slow sometimes. Wont start others WTF!
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No Ground wire
There is no Ground Wire Attached to your starter. It is 2 12volt wires to be completely honest with you. The Ground is pulled thru the ears on the starter that attach to the transmission which then attaches to your motor. The ground wire from your battery is Attached to your Frame (right in front of the battery usually) and then the Fatter negative wire goes towards your high current fuse box and down towards the front of the motor which also meets up with the High amperage 12v Positive wire that goes to your starter (which is HIGH amperage and is why it is fairly fat). the Negative wire attaches to your engine block right next to the power steering pump. Check that to be sure its got no corrosion of any sorts. also the best way to test this is like so.
Unplug the positive and negative Terminals from your battery.
Jack up your car and position it on jacks. (w/blocks behind the rear tires)
Pull the E-brake and put the car in neutral.
With making sure the battery is unplugged.
Unbolt your starter with a box wrench and possibly a socket and some extentions to get to the upper bolt, You wont need it for testing your electrical system first.
Now Your starter you have 2 wires going to it you have a Large 12Volt 30/40 Amp Wire straight from your car battery and is attached with a ring terminal and attached with a (1/2 I believe) Nut. Undo that and be sure its not touching any of the frame. Now the other wire is a smaller (Black) wire that has a black/grey connector that plugs onto the starter. what this is, is a wire that comes from your starter relay in your high current fuse box that is also from the ignition switch and possibly clutch saftey switch inside the car. What it does is it feeds a low amperage 12volt current to the starters Selonoid which makes it close the circuit and then the starter pulls the power from the LARGE 12v high amperage wire to make it have the juice to turn over the motor.
Now what you want to do here once the starter is removed is get yourself a ohm meter from auto zone or somewhere and you want to attach the ground wire to the frame somewhere (where there is no paint btw) like for instrance on the transmission linkage cover and then take the positive line from the ohm meter and secure it onto the lower voltage small black wire that was going to the starter. you may need some small pieces of wire to do this also so you can get into the car and turn the key and watch what the read out is. the readout should be at or above 12 volts. if its not.
if it is not at 12 volts you will need to run a line for the negative that is attached to the transmission cover or some other good chassis metal which ever you did with the negative line from the ohm meter and run it straight up to the negative terminal on the car battery. if then you get 12 volts your ground wire to the engine block that I pointed out to look at in the beginning is probably dirty or the wiring is shot.
You can also try to see what you get on the Fat Red Wire (High amperage) line from the battery down there too that should also read 12 volts. if not that wire needs to be replaced.
now if you get 12 volts down there on both put everything back in place and again take your starter to auto zone and have it checked for troubles. if they say its good then your problem lies else where. have you beat this motor down hard without doing proper oil changes and such? have you drained the oil recently and checked the consistency of it? also how does she run when she does start? also when you try to crank it and it does not start is the engine even turning over or are you just getting clicks from the starter? all questions you need to answer. thanks hope this helps some what.
There is no Ground Wire Attached to your starter. It is 2 12volt wires to be completely honest with you. The Ground is pulled thru the ears on the starter that attach to the transmission which then attaches to your motor. The ground wire from your battery is Attached to your Frame (right in front of the battery usually) and then the Fatter negative wire goes towards your high current fuse box and down towards the front of the motor which also meets up with the High amperage 12v Positive wire that goes to your starter (which is HIGH amperage and is why it is fairly fat). the Negative wire attaches to your engine block right next to the power steering pump. Check that to be sure its got no corrosion of any sorts. also the best way to test this is like so.
Unplug the positive and negative Terminals from your battery.
Jack up your car and position it on jacks. (w/blocks behind the rear tires)
Pull the E-brake and put the car in neutral.
With making sure the battery is unplugged.
Unbolt your starter with a box wrench and possibly a socket and some extentions to get to the upper bolt, You wont need it for testing your electrical system first.
Now Your starter you have 2 wires going to it you have a Large 12Volt 30/40 Amp Wire straight from your car battery and is attached with a ring terminal and attached with a (1/2 I believe) Nut. Undo that and be sure its not touching any of the frame. Now the other wire is a smaller (Black) wire that has a black/grey connector that plugs onto the starter. what this is, is a wire that comes from your starter relay in your high current fuse box that is also from the ignition switch and possibly clutch saftey switch inside the car. What it does is it feeds a low amperage 12volt current to the starters Selonoid which makes it close the circuit and then the starter pulls the power from the LARGE 12v high amperage wire to make it have the juice to turn over the motor.
Now what you want to do here once the starter is removed is get yourself a ohm meter from auto zone or somewhere and you want to attach the ground wire to the frame somewhere (where there is no paint btw) like for instrance on the transmission linkage cover and then take the positive line from the ohm meter and secure it onto the lower voltage small black wire that was going to the starter. you may need some small pieces of wire to do this also so you can get into the car and turn the key and watch what the read out is. the readout should be at or above 12 volts. if its not.
if it is not at 12 volts you will need to run a line for the negative that is attached to the transmission cover or some other good chassis metal which ever you did with the negative line from the ohm meter and run it straight up to the negative terminal on the car battery. if then you get 12 volts your ground wire to the engine block that I pointed out to look at in the beginning is probably dirty or the wiring is shot.
You can also try to see what you get on the Fat Red Wire (High amperage) line from the battery down there too that should also read 12 volts. if not that wire needs to be replaced.
now if you get 12 volts down there on both put everything back in place and again take your starter to auto zone and have it checked for troubles. if they say its good then your problem lies else where. have you beat this motor down hard without doing proper oil changes and such? have you drained the oil recently and checked the consistency of it? also how does she run when she does start? also when you try to crank it and it does not start is the engine even turning over or are you just getting clicks from the starter? all questions you need to answer. thanks hope this helps some what.
Well, i bought a new battery and it seems to be fine now. Cranks waaaay faster. I honestly did not think it was the battery. Cause sometimes it would crank almost regular and then other times really really slow(barely cranking). Since i put the new one in it cranks better then it ever has. I still think something is weird or loose in the wiring. I guess ill drive it around with the new battery for awhile and see.
PS the old batter was 7 years old.
PS the old batter was 7 years old.
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