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Maybe someone can help me out here. I have a 72 442 with an odd starting or electrical condition. It has a 455 motor in it. I haven't started it up for about a month, so I went to fire it up the other day and discovered something very odd. When I opened up the door, my interior lights came on as they should. I put the key in the ignition and went to start the car. When I turned the key to the start position, I got one click from the starter and everything went dead. No interior lights, horn, nothing. The whole car was dead. After a while, I came back to try again. The same thing happened. Periodically, I get power to the car, and sometimes I get nothing. When I do have power, I lose it as soon as I hit the start position with the key. I have taken the starter off, and it has passed a bench test. The solenoid checks out as well as the starter motor. I re-installed it and continue to have the same issue. I have a little over 12v when I check the battery. The connection from the battery reads the same, but when I check the voltage at the junction block, I get nothing. I have visually inspected the wire from the solenoid to the junction block, and I see no obvious issues. No burns through the wire, the ends appear to be attached very well, etc. Maybe the wire is fried on the inside but not visible from the outside? It's a very odd problem to me, but maybe it's as simple as replacing that wire. If anyone has other ideas as to what it might be, I would sure be interested to hear them.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Just over 12V is a very weak battery. I'd charge it and see what happens next. Or you could jumper the battery and try starting it. If the car starts you can probably look for a new battery.
Thanks, guys. The battery is only abut a year old, but maybe I got a lemon. I have cleaned the battery posts and cable connections, and I did have the charger on it for about 12 hours. I will try to jump it to see if that is the ticket. I am just baffled as to why I get no voltage at the junction block when I have 12+ volts at the battery. The junction block is a direct live feed from the same post on the solenoid that the battery cable is hooked to. Scott, here is a pic.
The condition you described is typical when there is a very resistive connection; I have experienced this many times with either a loose or corroded connection at one of the battery terminals. When the key is turned to the start position, the high current to the starter tries to flow though the resistive connection and "blows it open" so to speak. I would suggest removing the cables from the battery and making resistance measurements to see if/where the high resistance is.
edit:
Just saw your post about the bolt on end - those have given me lots of issues over the years. Take it off and clean it up. Soak the cable end and terminal in a baking soda/water solution, then ensure the bolts are tightened well when reinstalling. That may fix your problem.
Last edited by Fun71; September 4th, 2018 at 03:09 PM.
start with cleaning the battery cable connections at the battery
^^^THIS! Your connections have corroded. They were able to carry the small current needed to illuminate the dome light, but as soon as you tried to crank the starter, the high current draw caused this resistive connection at the battery terminal to arc, which pretty much opened the circuit. Clean both battery terminals and cables and make sure the battery is fully charged. This is very common in situations like this.
Y'all were on the money. I took the aftermarket cable end off and cleaned it up and things worked as they should. I had visually inspected it before and it appeared to be clean, but I guess not. Don't judge a book by it's cover, huh? Thanks for the advice!
September 4th, 2018, 12:47 PM
