Problems, Problems

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Mcduster

Mcduster

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Brighton Colorado
I have a 73 duster, I just put in a new battery, alternator is only about 2 months old, new plugs wires and cap and rotor. I have electronic system no points. I go to start it today I was on my way to test and tune put gas in started with no problem. Got to another stop went to go start and car would not start. Got a jump from a nice police officer and changed my mind about test and tune and just went back home. Still have interior lights and dash lights and tach lights up fine. I just don't know what else could be the issue. Input please.
 
If you are running headers, you could be heat soaking the starter.

I had this same problem and it acted like a charging issue. After a stop the starter would barely turn (if at all), then after several minutes of waiting for it to cool, it would crank.

I have changed the starter (MP Mini), as it was not going to get any better, the damage was done. I now have a MSD starter, wrapped and so far it is a lot better. I could have tried another MP starter, but I decided to make the change.

I'm running a 408 with TTI headers in a 69 Barracuda.
 
i dont completley understand. Are you saying that your lights all work but the car wont start? Does it turn over? or do you just hear a click? You said you needed a jump. did the car start normally when you were getting the jump?

What did the car do at you 1st stop when it wouldent start? Did the lights all work? need more info.


Do you have an alternator light or gauge?
 
i also had a similar problem with a starter too close to headers on a 72 cuda. And now that i think of it on a duster i had with electronic ignition i had the same type of problem but it was the ignition box.
 
A guy not far from me had the same problem with his e-body. Hot starter failure.
 
I'm not running after market headers on the car and I'm not running a box like msd or anything like that. When I come to a stop it will turn over but barely wants to start. If I charge the battery and over night and hook it up the next day it will start and I can drive it with no problem. I can drive it to work like 2 days and on the third day this is when this problem starts to occur. I had the started tested it good, even bought a new voltage regulator last week from napa. My guess is to start chasing wires and see if I have a loose connection or not a good ground somewhere.
 
Okay, in that case, try to locate a possible short or drain.

I went through this not to long ago with my Ramcharger, I had fun with my cars this summer.

Take the neg battery cable off and then hook a multimeter between the neg battery post and the detached neg cable, set the meter to read volts.

If the volts are above 1/2 volt you have a bad short, the higher the voltage the worse the short. For instance if the door is open the voltage may read 12, because of the jamb switch being open.

To locate the circuit that is the problem start removing the fuses one at a time, and make sure to close the door and have all switches off. As you pull the fuses you will see the voltage drop on the multimeter once you find the short.

I ended up having a short between to circuits, so in my case two fuses where removed at the same time and that is how I located my short.
In my case the hazard lights and radio were shorting each other, I ended up tracing it to the radio internal ground and a bad hazard switch.

valentek
 
Who tested the starter ? I asked this because a part store cant properly bench test a starter. They think if it turns its good and thats not so.
My nephew took his starter off his explorer 3 times and had it checked at 3 different places. They all said it was good because it would run on the workbench with 12 volts supplied.
A short that draws the battery down could be inside the starter too. Or it could be in the alternator .
 
Yeah the starter was bench tested by advance auto parts now I'm trying to figure out if I had the same problem before I put the starter in. I been working and have not got around to tested the system to see where the draw is coming from yet.
 
did so looking around and found a loose connection on the alt the green wire was not on good, I think that is a start fixed it and testing it out in the next few days
 
okay the loose green wire on the alt was not my problem. Replaced the wire and connection. I was checking the alt and while the care was running the alt was not charging the battery. I took the alt to checker and got another one and replaced it. On my way home it was dark, I had to turn my lights on and when I got home went to start the car and it would not start. I'm lost here I'm thinking a short or something. I lost gauges lights and lights to my tach on the way home. Charged the battery after I got home and when I started it back up the new alt is not charging the battery while the car is running. I don't know what else I have been tracing around and I'm thinking about taking it to a shop. More input will be helpful. Thank you
 
Mcduster said:
okay the loose green wire on the alt was not my problem. Replaced the wire and connection. I was checking the alt and while the care was running the alt was not charging the battery. I took the alt to checker and got another one and replaced it. On my way home it was dark, I had to turn my lights on and when I got home went to start the car and it would not start. I'm lost here I'm thinking a short or something. I lost gauges lights and lights to my tach on the way home. Charged the battery after I got home and when I started it back up the new alt is not charging the battery while the car is running. I don't know what else I have been tracing around and I'm thinking about taking it to a shop. More input will be helpful. Thank you
Click to expand...

Have you replaced the voltage regulator??
 
With the car sitting you should have 12.5 to about 12.8 V at the battery.
With the car running you should have 13.8 to 14.4 V at the battery.
if this checks out then the battery and charging systems are good.

Now start the car and turn on everything, lights, radio, heater, wipers and radio. It should still read over 13V at the battery a good alternator capable of deliverying enough amps to run everything should still read over 14V.

When you have this issue do the same thing, if the battery is not at the right voltage you either have a bad battery or your charging system is not working.

Crank on the starter see what the voltage drops to, if it goes below 10V the electronic ignition will have a hard time firing and it also indicates excessive starter draw.

You need a Voltmeter, if you can get it to an Advance Auto or Smuck's Auto most of them have a load tester and can hook it up to your battery, crank on it and it will tell you how many AMPS it pulling when hot.

It could also be in the distributor, if it's got too much initial advance it'll pull down the starter won't turn the motor over without a real beefy battery.
 
It sounds to me like you have a charging issue. Check the output of the alternator while it's running. It should be about 14 volts. Check it also with both meter leads at the middle of the posts on the battery to be sure all connections are good.

If the battery is still not holding a charge it's either a bad battery or you're drawing current while the vehicle is not running. You can put an ammeter in series with the positive post of the battery to find out. You should be drawing zero amps if everything is stock or microamps if you have a clock or radio.

I had a problem with dead batteries years ago and it turned out to be the glove box light switch was bad, keeping the light on. I found it while poking around at night and saw the light shining through.

Good luck
 
Bypass the Ammeter gauge by running a wire from the battery terminal on your alternator to the positive battery post and see if this eliminates the charging issues. I had almost the same issues with my Duster and found out after pulling out the gauge cluster that the post on the ammeter gauge was broke so I was not charging. If I remove this wire from my alternator or battery, my battery will not charge and the car will run off of the battery until it dies. I still have not been able to replace this ammeter gauge in the dash due to lack of funds but this jumper wire has been working fine since I hooked it up.
 
With an ammeter in the dash, the entire output of the alternator must pass thru the firewall, excite the gauge, and then pass back thru the firewall to charge the battery.

I believe if you test for voltage on the battery- engine off- get a base line.

start the engine, test voltage at the back of the alternator- get a reading

and then test again at the starter- get another reading

You will be able to see if you are losing current through the firewall connections and/or the ammeter.

Also, the ammeter (test meter) in line between the positive post and positive cable is a sure indicator for static draw down of your battery.

Here is a link to an interesting modification for older ammeter equipped Mopars.

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

Keep us posted!
 
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