Click,Click,Click!

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olddman

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Need some help. Went out to my Dart and when I turned the key to start all that happened was a click from the starter and then nothing. Dome light went out, and when I tried to start again, nothing happened, not even a click. Thought battery was low so I hooked up the charger.
Next day I tried to start engine again. Same thing happened as day before. Pulled battery and took to parts house and battery checked out good. Put battery in and tried to start again. There was a click from starter and then nothing.
Checked battery with voltmeter and is reading 12.49. At the starter relay reading is 12.49. Tried to jump across post on start relay. Click from starter then nothing. When I try to jump across relay again, nothing, no click at all.
Tried giving starter a tap with rubber mallet but no luck. Thinking that maybe the starter relay is bad or perhaps the starter. Would like some ideas as to what to do now.
 
How old is the battery ?
I would make sure I have a known good battery first, before I started changing other parts. Do you have a battery from another vehicle that you could try ?
 
Ive had the terminals cause that and also wires on the starter do it also. Try to loosen and retighten. Make sure the nut doesnt turn that locks the post to the starter. Its under the battery wire.
 
First thing I would do is to check all of my connections, even if you have checked them before do it again. Both terminals at the battery wires to the terminals and terminals to the battery post's. Then the starter relay, remove the wire connection clean it off with a wire brush and re-connect. Then the last place is down at the starter. I have tapped on some starters before to get them to crank but I use a steel hammer not a rubber one and while I am tapping on the starter I have someone else working the key. Make sure you check the battery cable ground to the block also, the fact that your dome light went out kind of turns me to a loose or bad ground. Good Luck!
Bob
 
I've had a lazy starter in the past that would throw out the bendix gear and stick into the ring gear and not return without starting the car, i would have to turn the engine over by hand for the for it to release, at the time i had a few spare starters so just replaced it.
 
Went through exactly the same thing with my 70 Challenger, went through all the diagnostics, put in a new battery, re-did the main power wire under the dash (coming from the ignition) as that was sketchy, finally concluded that the starter was bad so I got a new one, got under the car to swap it out and discovered the main cable was super loose, tightened it up and its still working today..
 
My money is in the compression type terminals. Every toolbox back in the day had this metal tool that looked like a knob. The top came off to expose a 1" wire bottle brush to clean the insides of tour batter cable ends. The bottom would be this scary looking female wire brush looking thing that would go on top of the terminals and screw down onto them cleaning the surface to a bright silver. Clean both sides of the terminal and lug and your clicking will probably go away. If your dome light goes out after it ticks, its surely a battery connection issue.
 
That's funny pishta I still have a couple of those plastic battery terminal and post cleaners with the wire brush and scary looking female wire brush, I used to use them all the time now they just sit in my tool box.
 
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Do yourself a favor since you can measure voltage and see what it measures when you engage the starter.

If the voltage drops below 10.5 then the battery is toast. If it doesn't change hardly at all, it's a connection or starter.
 
Thanks to all. Will be trying all that has been suggested and let you know how it is going. Looks like I have a lot of checking, cleaning, and tightening the next day or two.
 
Methodical troubleshooting........

1...Look it over under the hood. Look for obvious corrosion at the battery terminals, fell cables for looseness. Turn on headlights, do they light? if not you have a basic power problem

2....ALL Mopar owners who attempt to maintain/ modify their own cars should have AT MINIMUM a 12V test lamp, a multimeter, a handfull of alligator clip leads. ------and a factory service manual. you can download many at MyMopar

3....Learn to "rig" a remote starter switch, which is easy on Mopars because of the fender/ firewall mount starter relay. All you need do is jumper across the two largest exposed terminals, and it should crank. THERE IS NO neutral protection, so be sure the transmission is out of gear

4....Clip multimeter to engine ground and stab other probe into the battery NEG post. Jumper the relay. you should read very little voltage, absolutely no more than 1/2 volt at the worst, and far less at the best

5....Do the same with POS. If you can, clip meter to the large cable at starter, if not, clip to the large stud on starter relay. Stab other probe into battery POS post. Jumper starter relay and read meter. Same as above, should read just a very few tenths of one volt, certainly no more than 1/2V at very very worst.

High V readings in either test indicates bad connections or bad cables.

If the above tests turn up nothing....

6.....Clip meter as close as you can get to battery terminals. Should read 12.6 if fully charged. If below about 11.5, it is effectively dead. Crank the engine, read the meter. If battery falls below 10V at very worst, it is either dead or bad. Charge battery and see if it improves.

7....IF YOU CAN open battery and check acid level, add water if below plates level. DO NOT leave battery sit in below feezing weather without charging if it is low or dead
 
My money is on pishta, get a terminal/post cleaner and make em shiny and clean tighten em up and fire it up
 
I had this happen to me a couple weeks ago. It turned out the battery had 2 wires connected to the terminal lug.. A 10 awg and a much larger gauge wire.
It turned out the large size wire had slipped out of the terminal lug and only the 10awg wire was there. It is not connected directly to the starter like the other wire and could not pass enough power thru it.
I noticed it when the wire started smoking and then I found the disconnected wire
 
Is the whole car dead after the click?
I had this happen. I'd unhook the battery, wait a few minutes, hook it back up, twist the key, get a big click from the starter solenoid and then nothing until I unhooked the battery again. It turned out to be the wire from the start relay down to the starter was bad.
 
Have not been able to make checks that have been posted until today. Had to have cataract surgery and then came down with bursitis in my right shoulder. To day I managed to do a couple of checks. Recleaned battery posts, removed wires at starter relay and cleaned terminals, removed and cleaned terminals at starter solenoid, checked battery voltage (12.75), voltage at starter relay (12.75), step 4,5,&6 (67Dart273) checked out o.k. I am beginning to think that the starter has gone bad. Thoughts on this are please. It is a mini Chrysler starter. Some time back when I removed the headers, I removed the starter and wrote down a number I found on it. The sticker on the starter stated that it was a Chrysler unit with the number 128000 printed on it. Does anyone know if this sounds correct? If not can you recommend a mini starter to use.
Bolts up to a 1965 Dart GT with a Commando 273.
If anyone has other test that I can do, let me know. Thanks for all the help.
 
You need to make tests UNDER LOAD, that is with the starter attempting to engage. Example is a battery cable corroded inside so that it's effectively a no14 wire instead of a no4. it will operate the dome lights and radio, etc, but not the starter. Clip your meter directly onto the starter "big" terminal and a good engine ground. Be careful, as of course, the large terminal is full battery power. Jumper the starter relay and see what it reads. Should have at least 10V or more

If so, then could be starter relay, wire between relay and starter solenoid, or starter

If not, then something in the main battery cable

Now clip onto the starter small terminal. Jumper the starter relay. Should have full 12V there. If not, then, starter relay, or that wire between them.

If you have full battery voltage there, and at the starter "big" terminal as well, then I'd say .....starter....
 
Just an example of a simple problem threw me for a loop for a few minutes. 86 Ranger, one day won't start. Acts like dead battery/ bad connection, BUT THE HEADLIGHTS stay on nice and bright.

Problem? The NEG battery cable, came off the battery, went down and a factor "T tap" bolted to the frame, and then same cable ran over and bolted to the engine. The cable was all corroded inside near that "T tap." It carried enough to ground the headlights to the frame, but the section going over to the block was "done."
 
Alright everyone, here is what I have done in the past few days. Jacked up front end, tapped starter with hammer, did not help. Removed battery and had it checked at two auto parts stores (Advance and Napa) and results were the same. Removed starter and checked operation. Worked as it should. Reinstalled and tried to check voltage to starter under load. Unable to because as soon as ignition is turned to start position everything went dead. I then proceeded on with other checks. I checked ground wires from battery to engine block, block to frame, block to firewall, with multimeter for resistance, wire tightness in eyelets, cleaned contact points. Checked for tightness of cables in clamps, resistance of battery cables, positive and negative. Retested as per step 4 & 6 (67Dart273) voltage .4. Attached meter to red wire on starter and to ground. Jumped starter relay, voltage 11.5. Voltage at small terminal of starter 12. Checked voltage at starter relay (12.5). Recleaned battery terminals and eyelets of battery cables. Checked wires under dash, at firewall block, and at ignition switch. I could not think of anything else to check. Anyhow, after doing all these checks, cleaning, and tightening I turned the ignition switch to start and the engine started!! Can not tell you why, but something following all the steps suggested I can now say that my Dart runs again.
Thanks to all your help, without it I think I would still be scratching my head and going down dead ends.
If anyone has any idea as to why my engine now starts, let me know.
 
If you were getting the voltages mentioned at the starter and solenoid, it surely must be "in" the starter. There are several things. Back in the day, I'd 'ha had that ***** apart. Mopars are a PITA because it's easy to break the internal solenoid wire which must be unsoldered. Bad solenoid contacts, bad brushes, bad armature, all gummed up, hard to tell. "Back in the day" I've had as many as 50 Mopar starters apart. Nowadays, I'd just "throw another at it" and believe me, I'm not a guy who, generally, "throws parts" at a car.
 
Bad starter solenoid is still in the back of my head. If this happens again I may just go ahead and replace the starter. Hope that all is well for a long time as removing the starter is a pain. Not a lot of room to move around with Doug's installed! Once again thanks to all.
 
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