OK my cobra had what I believe was the original 130,000 mile starter on it, and when I went to lunch the other day, it started up fine and i got to get lunch and got back fine, but when I went to leave work 4 hours later, I go to turn the ignition and CLICK.
No spinning noises, no nothing. Just the fuel pump then a single click. So I'm thinking, that was sudden, is my battery dead? I went inside work to grab a multimeter, switch it to voltage and put it across the battery, 12.82V. That should be enough to at least attempt to crank.
My 6 month old Motorcraft battery is located in the trunk with a ground welded to the frame and a 2/0 Welding cable ran to the distro block. It ran like this fine for 6 months without issues. The single click leads me to believe the solenoid is clicking, but the starter isn't spinning at all. Taking into account the mileage on the starter and the fact that I have long tubes now (starter and solenoid were wrapped with heat wrap), I figured it gave up the ghost and that the click was a good sign that if the solenoid is attempting to work that there is no connectivity issues with the engage circuit, but perhaps there is an issue on the power circuit connectivity somewhere between the distro block and the starter.
Anyhow I push start the car and it fires right up like nothing was wrong, go to NAPA, purchase a reman starter for 139 plus 50 dollar core charge, Pull out the old one, re wrap the new one with heat wrap and bolt it up, wire it up, drop the car, go to reconnect the battery, and finally I attempt to start it. CLICK. Great, the same exact symptoms. The lights don't dim inside at all to make me think the battery is too low so I connect the battery to a charger to let it sit for a bit before I try again.
After 5-10 minutes I attempt again, CLICK. I went to check the fuses under the dash and the only blown one is number 1, for the cigar lighter circuit. Under the hood all the fuses look good but I have no way of checking the starter relay to see if its bad or not so I just swapped it with the one next to it to see if that makes a difference. Nothing. Apparently there's only the one fuse under the dash, #6 for the starter motor, and a relay under the hood in the fuse-box. I cant figure out what it is.
Could I have received a dud starter from NAPA? It said re-manufactured but it included a test datasheet shat indicates it passed so I don't know what to think but I'm about to pull it off and take it to get tested and check all my wiring for continuity to try to figure it out. I checked my neutral safety switch and fuel cutoff switch, both were in fine working order. The sudden issue with starting is what perplexes me, but I could just have gotten a dud from NAPA. Please, anyone with advice for what to look at, please help! This car is my daily and it went from reliable to not running in no time. My birthday was yesterday and this wasn't how I intended to spend it
Thanks:rockon:
No spinning noises, no nothing. Just the fuel pump then a single click. So I'm thinking, that was sudden, is my battery dead? I went inside work to grab a multimeter, switch it to voltage and put it across the battery, 12.82V. That should be enough to at least attempt to crank.
My 6 month old Motorcraft battery is located in the trunk with a ground welded to the frame and a 2/0 Welding cable ran to the distro block. It ran like this fine for 6 months without issues. The single click leads me to believe the solenoid is clicking, but the starter isn't spinning at all. Taking into account the mileage on the starter and the fact that I have long tubes now (starter and solenoid were wrapped with heat wrap), I figured it gave up the ghost and that the click was a good sign that if the solenoid is attempting to work that there is no connectivity issues with the engage circuit, but perhaps there is an issue on the power circuit connectivity somewhere between the distro block and the starter.
Anyhow I push start the car and it fires right up like nothing was wrong, go to NAPA, purchase a reman starter for 139 plus 50 dollar core charge, Pull out the old one, re wrap the new one with heat wrap and bolt it up, wire it up, drop the car, go to reconnect the battery, and finally I attempt to start it. CLICK. Great, the same exact symptoms. The lights don't dim inside at all to make me think the battery is too low so I connect the battery to a charger to let it sit for a bit before I try again.
After 5-10 minutes I attempt again, CLICK. I went to check the fuses under the dash and the only blown one is number 1, for the cigar lighter circuit. Under the hood all the fuses look good but I have no way of checking the starter relay to see if its bad or not so I just swapped it with the one next to it to see if that makes a difference. Nothing. Apparently there's only the one fuse under the dash, #6 for the starter motor, and a relay under the hood in the fuse-box. I cant figure out what it is.
Could I have received a dud starter from NAPA? It said re-manufactured but it included a test datasheet shat indicates it passed so I don't know what to think but I'm about to pull it off and take it to get tested and check all my wiring for continuity to try to figure it out. I checked my neutral safety switch and fuel cutoff switch, both were in fine working order. The sudden issue with starting is what perplexes me, but I could just have gotten a dud from NAPA. Please, anyone with advice for what to look at, please help! This car is my daily and it went from reliable to not running in no time. My birthday was yesterday and this wasn't how I intended to spend it
Thanks:rockon:
