HELP! CAR WON'T START.

[SNAKEYES86GT]

Battery drained...accesories come on the first time but the second and third times trying to start it everything is dead. My radio stopped coming on about a week ago. All the fuses are fine though. Battery was supposedly good and all. Is it a loose connection? Bad starter? Grounded wire? Bad alternator? Please help. It's an '86 GT. I could go buy a new battery but I feel like whatever is wrong will drain it again. My gut tells me its a loose connection somewhere but I'm a newb and I don't really know where to start. If you can call (630) 267-7908.

 

[Slvr351Stang]

A little advice

Ok first off this is what you need to do. Get you a volt meter and check voltage on your battery with the car off. You should read approximately 12.43 volts. If not, charge the battery for a couple hours and then check it again. If it is reading around 12.43 volts then try to crank it. If it doesn't fire up then check the voltage once more and if it below 11 volts then your battery is bad. If the motor is trying to crank at all then you dont have to worry about the starter. If you get the car cranked check the voltage on the alternator. There should be a rubber cover over the power wire on the alternator. You should read 14.3 volts. If so then your alternator is good. Also check the ground cable that runs from the battery to the frame. Try pulling the side off the frame and cleaning it making sure you are getting metal to metal. Or try taking a piece of speaker wire and running from the negative post and bolting it somewheres on the car. If none of that stuff helps, it could be a bad solenoid or a grounded wire. Try checking continuity of the battery of both post to the frame. You should find something out that way.


-Jon

 

[TT91]

bad alternator

 

[SNAKEYES86GT]

where the crap do i get a voltage meter quickly...are they easy to find?

 

[TT91]

any auto parts store, walmart, home depot..

 

[HISSIN50]

or you can run a jumper battery to it (like jump starting) - that can narrow down whether your battery is at fault, or if it is a connection (i.e. if you have a bad battery ground, a jumper batt wont necessarily help out much).

if you get it running decently, you can try and have a local parts store check out the charging system. what SS is referring to with the alternator, is a bad diode (allowing juice to flow bi-directionally). a bench test or charging system tester should find that pretty quickly.

good luck.

 

[SNAKEYES86GT]

I got a new battery and it started the first time...good I guess. But when it's in neutral and the clutch is out the engine searches for an idle and surges. Also, when I' driving and the clutch is out there's a chirping that sounds like a cricket...this sound dissapears when I put the clutch in. Could this be further pointing to a bad alternator? I'm pretty sure I redid the ground wire pretty well so we can rule that out. The batter is store bought new so that can be ruled out as well...and no I don't have a voltage meter.

 

[HISSIN50]

I got a new battery and it started the first time...good I guess. But when it's in neutral and the clutch is out the engine searches for an idle and surges. Also, when I' driving and the clutch is out there's a chirping that sounds like a cricket...this sound dissapears when I put the clutch in. Could this be further pointing to a bad alternator? I'm pretty sure I redid the ground wire pretty well so we can rule that out. The batter is store bought new so that can be ruled out as well...and no I don't have a voltage meter.

cricket sounds like your TOB. you can dial in a little preload into the cluch cable to eliminate the noise (a common fix). surging - well good luck. many of us have that issue.
good luck.

 

[SNAKEYES86GT]

What's a TOB...and how do I dial preload into the clutch cable...

 

[HISSIN50]

What's a TOB...and how do I dial preload into the clutch cable...

throw out bearing. it slides on the retainer when you push the clutch in.

if you have an aftermarket quadrant, stock cable and fwa (firewall adjuster) or an adjustable cable, you tighten the adjuster to remove any slack in the cable and then introduce a little preload. it is the same as you ever so slightly pushing the clutch pedal down (which quiets the cricket).
good luck.