View Single Post
Old Nov 10, 2009 | 08:16 AM
  #3 (permalink)  
302GTS's Avatar
302GTS
Resident TOB Killer
 
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,421
Likes: 0
Default

Originally Posted by Hurstmeister
This is the 95 GT your talking about?
test your battery first. Even if its less then 2 yrs old. I have in the past bought brand new 800 CCA batterys that were supposed to be the big bad kahuna only to have them shit on me within 6 months. It can happen. Not saying this is your problem,.. but unless your ready to buy replacement parts to figure out whats wrong,.. its more affordable to track down where the problem is first.

Check your battery cables. How do the ends look? Any corrosion on the terminals? If so,.. could be your battery or a bad connection. Trace both the ground and the hot cables. Are there any parts of the cable that are swollen? Any grounds to the block or chassis that look questionable? Both solenoids are sensitive to cable resistance and if you have swollen cables or bad grounds this will increase the resistance in the cables making it harder for the battery to crank over the engine. Also,.. its usually a quick 5 or 10 mins to carry your battry into a parts store and have them test it for you. If you are not sure how to test it,.. they will check for voltage and amps. A battery can give misleading signals. A nice 13.4 volts yet only able to pump out 80 amps. Just barely enough to start the car. This puts a strain on your alternator when the car is running,.. ultimately leading to alternator failure down the road.

If you have another ride,.. pull your starter off and have it tested as well. But,.. starters too can be misleading. I've seen starters test out fine on the bench,.. but when you put a load on them (Cranking over the engine) they heat up and strain because the bendix is worn.

If the battery and cables are fine I would just go to which ever parts store has the best price and buy a reman starter. Not very expensive.
Napa and Advance have them for $49.00. Can sometimes catch them on sale for $19.99 with 1 yr warranty.

That or hit a junkyard. Anything with a 289/302/351 should work.

Hurst
Thanks Hurst, and yes I'm sorry. The car in question is a 95 GTS. The battery was tested a week ago and tested bad, so I replaced it. I've checked the ends of the cable leading to the battery, and those look fine, but I havn't checked the ends leading away from it. I'll make it a point to do that this weekend while doing my oil change.

The problem is very wishy washy when it wants to do it, and never does it when I'm around an actual mechanic. It did it in front of a friend of mine, and he told me it sounded like the starter solenoid sticking, which makes some sense considering it only happens when it's hot.
Reply