Pile of Parts
Posts: 38
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:23 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA
'64 C900 Starting Troubles
1. I started by checking for parasitic drain. (Removed the battery cable and hooked up Multimeter to the batter negative post and cable) No amperage was found.
2. I checked all of the batter and alternator wires and connections. Then checked the alternator for voltage drops on the positive and negative side of the alternator, didn't find any, but I did find a .4 V voltage drop on the chassis ground for the negative terminal. I cleaned the connections up and replaced it with a new 30" 2-Gauge wire, no more voltage drop.
3. The starter nut on the positive terminal was dirty and loose. Removed it, took wire brush to it and all the connectors off of it and tightened it up firmly.
4. After doing all of this one evening I was driving and the lights suddenly got really bright, and then they dimmed and the needle on the ammeter dropped to a little below halfway on the Draining side (Also note, the ammeter was bouncing all over the place this whole ride. After that the alternator would only put out about 12.2V. Frustrated at this point I ordered a new alternator and voltage regulator. After installing I'm back at 14.3 V charging and put in a new battery as well.
5. The truck still won't start the majority of the time, it has a full batter and voltage only drops to 12.01 from 12.5 when I try to start it. No sound comes from the starter.
6. When I park the truck and shut it off, usually I can wait a few minutes sit there and it cranks. When I come back it won't even try to turn over, but the battery is reading good.
Now I'm stumped, my next guess is the ground on the starter? I was going to run cable direct from the negative terminal of the battery to the starter ground, but wasn't sure where to go after that.
On a side note, Temp sensor had been working fine and is stuck on "C" (with ignition on) and my oil pressure sensor which had been working fine is stuck on "H" when the ignition is turned on. These started about a month or two ago. Just in case they might be related.
1987 Subaru RX-Turbo
2017 Subaru WRX