Help! Starter Problems

[Turbo Saleen]

Hey guys, I've been chasing this problem for about 2 weeks now and still no luck. First off the problem.

When I go start the car the car barely cranks once and stops. Sometimes it has enough to start the car barely. I have charged the battery and tried it. The first time I turn the key it does the samething (Barely cranks over oncce and stops). Then the second time it will start up with little trouble. This happens even after a long drive and whatnot even with a charged battery.

Things I have done:
New battery, New ground in the back where the battery is, New solenoid, then a whole new starter with another solenoid, got the alternator check and checked out fine. I have followed wires everywhere and can't find anything wrong.

Is there any test I can run to pin point the problem and finally solve my problem. Voltage regulator not charging the battery? But that has nothing to do with the starter when I go start it. How can I test the wires going to the starter? I dunno, i'm about to torch this thing. Any suggestions will help. Thanks Guys

 

[Turbo Saleen]

Well I just got back from the ford dealership and one of the techs said it might be a bad bearing that is keeping my motor from turning over. So who knows. I'm going to run a wire from the starter back to the battery and see the voltage drop from the battery to the starter. Any other ideas or suggestions.

 

[johnnyboy1111]

hard start

when you crank it put the headlights on and see if they go dim, it also may have jumped out of timing, but with over head cams I havnt fooled with timing, the hot line from battery to starter ,maybe, check the body grounds if the lights dont go dim, add an extra ground from the battery to the body, if the lights go dim and you have already changed battery's, starters ,then the motor could be binding up with internal problems or out of time, when did it first start ? what motor? how many miles?......good luck let me know how you do.. Johnny

 

[Turbo Saleen]

I have added another ground to the one I had. The car is a 97 GT, 4.6 SOHC with 35,000 miles 5spd. I'm going to turn on the headlights and check the timing when I get home from work. I'm also going to pull the chip and see what happens. Also taking the belt off and seeing if I can turn the motor by hand. If I don't get it done by tonite, it's going to a mechanic. Any other ideas?

 

[johnnyboy1111]

hard start

low miles but some of the early 4.6 did have problems, I hold off on going to Ford they can be expensive and they will tell you "motor bad"...and charge you big $$$$ just for the info...4.6 motors are plentifull and a swap to a new motor isnt all that tough...the 1999 and up 4.6 had many of the early problems resolved, you never said how it started? did it ever start since the problem & if so any noise's ? is it a stick shift & are you sure the tranny could be jamming ? does it have a nuetral safty switch, when the clutch is depressed when cranking any noise's???? dont give up too easy any mechanic friend or neighbors have a look????? a trick in the old days to see about odd cranking problems was to remove all the spark plugs and try cranking...without compression any normal motor will spin fast like that, if it still spins slow with the plugs out and you have already changed starters & batterys then something inside is jamming it......let me know ..good luck