I'm stumped... Intermittent Starter Issue

Brown_Gbody

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Feb 17, 2010
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OK, so I'm finally getting the car out of the barn for the summer, and I started noticing a problem that has me stumped. The car will start just fine, over and over again, but every so often, it acts like the battery is weak, and the starter drags, but will eventually start the car.
I can shut the car off, and it will start fine, over and over again. I come back later and it starts fine but every so often it seems like the battery is weak.
No set pattern, does not matter if the car is warm or cold. Will start multiple times just fine, but every once in a while it acts goofy??
Starter is fairly new
Battery is strong
New cables to the ground and the starter (Pos & Neg replaced last year)


HALP! :-k
 

Ed Cannon

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Jul 17, 2009
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Johnson City Tn
I would guess poor connection either at the battery or starter. Or an internal starter problem armature dragging field coils etc.
 

Brown_Gbody

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Feb 17, 2010
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Ed Cannon said:
I would guess poor connection either at the battery or starter. Or an internal starter problem armature dragging field coils etc.


That's what I was thinking, but I've checked the connections, and the starter seems to operate fine most of the time. It's just every so often, it acts like I've got 14:1 compression... ](*,)
 

Ed Cannon

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Jul 17, 2009
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could be timing set too high or a sticking advance.
 

Brown_Gbody

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Ed Cannon said:
could be timing set too high or a sticking advance.

I've got a MSD 600AL box with an electronic ignition, so yeah, I'll throw a timing light on it tomorrow...

Now I just have to find the timing for a crate 350...
 

Ed Cannon

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Jul 17, 2009
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stock should be about 8deg @idle
 

Brown_Gbody

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Feb 17, 2010
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Well, after playing with the car yesterday, I have determined it is definitely a battery problem. I added a ground between the engine and the frame, and I added another ground between the battery and the body as well.
Why this is intermittent, I have no idea.

I did notice this; The voltage at the battery was between 12.5 and 13.2 VDC before I added the grounds, and now, I'm getting a solid 14 volts at the battery. So I did improve the circuits.

I'll play with it some more today and we'll see what happens.
 

Ed Cannon

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Jul 17, 2009
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Johnson City Tn
Good chassis grounds are critical.
 

Brown_Gbody

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Feb 17, 2010
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So, after some serious detective work (not really) I finally fixed the starting problems on my car. Turns out it helps to have a battery that doesn't have a shorted cell.....

By adding the grounds to the frame and body, I definitely helped the charging circuit, but in the end, it was in fact a weak battery that was effecting the starter.
The other problem that I discovered, was the timing being set to 18 degrees ..... Yeah, I was surprised too. I set it back down to 10 degrees and it immediately started running/starting better.

So....... I'm finally ready for the show season. Only a month late....
 

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