Bad Battery?

There have been a number of posts on various forums about restoring batteries with a water/Epsom salt mix....I tried a couple last week and they seem to be holding up so far.....
 
So, I replaced the battery and charged the new one appropriately. The engine turns over WEAKLY, but doesn't really want to start - it will eventually, just barely. With a brand new charged battery, the voltage DROPS from 13.5 to 6 V while turning the key.

Would a bad starter cause a voltage drop?
 
Probably a bad starter....could also be a bad connection or bad ground.....Take it off and test it on the bench
 
Jefe said:
How do I test the starter?
Click to expand...

He's talking about clamping it in a vise, hooking jumper cables from a good battery to it to see if it spins. Black (-) to the body, power (+) to the bolt that the wire attaches to.

But, I've found this is not always a good test. If your armature has bad spots, it'll spin just fine on the bench, but once you put a load to it, not much happens. Once it gets to the bad spot in the armature, it'll go dead - and remain that way until you move it (turn the motor by hand a bit).
 
Jefe said:
So, I replaced the battery and charged the new one appropriately. The engine turns over WEAKLY, but doesn't really want to start - it will eventually, just barely. With a brand new charged battery, the voltage DROPS from 13.5 to 6 V while turning the key.

Would a bad starter cause a voltage drop?
Click to expand...

If your dropping over half of your available voltage ... My first place to look is a bad cable, either the positive OR the negative.. the starter solenoid could be about to fail or any of the connections that the battery cables attach.
You can check all of them by taking a 'good' set of heavy jumper cables and go directly from the battery to the starter...
Hook the negative to the engine or the mounting bolt for the starter...
then carefully contact the positive jumper cable to the large terminal on the starter...
This will spin the engine, (so be careful)...
If it turns over exactly as bad as it did using the factory wiring ... THEN you have a bad starter...
If it spins it as it should then you have one of the earlier mentioned problems...
I doubt it is the starter... if you were dropping all that voltage in the starter it would be smoking hot within 15 to 20 seconds... but if you check it with jumper cables Directly to the starter, you will know immediately what the problem is... :smile:KennyV
 
Good Job Kenny ! :thumbsup: Always good advice ! :biggrin:

I would add that it might not be the cables, but could be just the cable connections at either or both ends. I've found corroded connections in places where you might not expect them and that looked fine until taken apart.

I've been on here nearly as long as the Forum has been active and have nowhere near your # of posts !
 
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