Starter would not crank my engine?

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-05-2006, 10:05 AM

Hi everyone...Im a new here at forum...

Can anyone help me with my problem….I have 1998 ls1, 6 speed manual formula. It has a new battery new positive cable. Car running fine until ….one day I was backing out of the garage to warm up the car in idle for 10 minutes and no problem while the car running in idle, but as soon I put the clutch on reverse to back out the car it just stop for no reason… I tried to start the car again but the starter just clicks and the engine would not crank to turnover. So I replace it with a new starter but I’m still the same problem….Is there expertise out there to help me?

**Musclefan21** · 06-05-2006, 10:20 AM

are you sure you plugged in the cables to the right placesafter you put new starter on?

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 06-05-2006, 10:35 AM

Sounds like the battery connections are loose or corroded.

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-05-2006, 11:48 AM

The cables are installed correctly. They only fit one way. The lareger cable fits directly to the larger bolt and the smaller bolt fits directly to ignition wire.

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-05-2006, 11:50 AM

New cables installed so they are not corroded.

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 06-05-2006, 01:05 PM

Then its a dead battery. Check the alternator.

**Musclefan21** · 06-05-2006, 01:29 PM

l would say for some reasion your battery is dead. your worked on electric related parts and l guess you forgot to disconnect the negaive battery cable and this coused a dead battery.. re charge it. l think your alternator is fine.. but check anyway..

**sunsetorangess** · 06-05-2006, 02:39 PM

I agree with Vert, clicking is common of dead battery, double check your wiring then try replacing battery since its new im sure its under warranty and when you get new battery in take a look at your alt.
J

**BlinkFan0072** · 06-06-2006, 03:55 AM

could be the battery could be the little resistor on your key. try cleaning it with a small amount of alcohol if that doesn't work call your local dealer and check prices for a new key. take it to them so they can check what the resistance is.

**DrMilhouse** · 06-06-2006, 06:12 AM

Originally Posted by BlinkFan0072

could be the battery could be the little resistor on your key. try cleaning it with a small amount of alcohol if that doesn't work call your local dealer and check prices for a new key. take it to them so they can check what the resistance is.

I disagree. There's always a huge remote possibility, but I would say it's probably not that. When it's a bad key/cylinder or the car doesn't read the key at all, there's no sound when you try to turn it on.

I'd say start by jumping it. If you jump it and it starts, it could be the battery. If you jump it and it starts and you let it run for a few minutes, then turn it off and try to start it again and it doesn't start with out a jump, then it's the alternator. That's a long sentence.

good luck.

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-06-2006, 12:25 PM

i will try to jump the batter to see if that would work...thanks

**Footloose** · 06-06-2006, 01:35 PM

I would check ALL ground cables on the car, there should be one from the engine block to the frame. You may not be able to see the corrsion but clean everything

**Musclefan21** · 06-06-2006, 07:37 PM

l believe it is a completely dead battery needs to be jumped or replaced or cables are not plagged in all the way or plugged in wrong places..

just let us know what is goin on with the car man..

**sunsetorangess** · 06-09-2006, 03:47 AM

Yea jump starting is a good idea but i'v seen then so dead that a jump wouldnt even get it too start. Needed to replace the battery.
just a thought
J

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-09-2006, 09:13 PM

i tried jumping the battery and i was still unable to crank the engine....so I charge the battery overnight again to full charge....When i reinstalled the battery i check with the voltmeter and gave me a reading of 11.95 volts, as soon i connected cable the voltage of the battery had drop down to 8 volts. Then I check the voltage across the alternator i have the same reading of 8volts.....Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on to why the voltage had drop all of sudden? Where do I go from here?

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-09-2006, 09:26 PM

anyway i will be returning the new battery and replace it with another new one, maybe the new battery does not have enough cells to start the car...In the meantime my buddy came by with his camaro and i tried his battery and i was unable to crank engine either with his battery....again he's got a full charge battery but i measure the 8 volts across the terminal when it is connected and when i disconnected it was back to 12volts....So I don't know why it would drop like that? I belive something draining the juice out of battery.

**NinerSevenTango** · 06-09-2006, 09:38 PM

Prime suspect is a pair of blown diodes in the alternator.

Try disconnecting the alternator hot lead that goes to the battery (tape the wires so they don't short to something), then see if the voltage across the battery still drops when you connect the battery. If it reads 12v then, just replace the alternator. If it still drops, it's something else shorting out.

**arnoldonsite2** · 06-09-2006, 10:05 PM

thanks....i give it a shot at it again....if it doesn't work i wait until tomorrow to get a new alternator and beside's that i have working on this car all day long, i think its time for me to rest and go for it again tomorrow morning with a new alternator.

My last question is would a car that running and suddenly would stall if the alternator is bad.....reason i ask is because all this problem had started when the car was idling just fine while it was warming up and as soon i back out from the driveway the car just died for no reason. This is how all my problem had started when i was backing out of the driveway. During the time the car was half way the street and the driveway i had to jumped the car but still that didn't work so I thought it was the starter. Since then i have a new starter, a new positive cable, then check all grounding wires and all have good continuity... then just to find out there actually voltage drop across the battery is connected....and hopefully changing the alternator would solve my problem this time around. Cause I don't know what is next to check for after this problem is not solve.
and

**Musclefan21** · 06-10-2006, 04:00 AM

damn that should be alternator man!!

**NinerSevenTango** · 06-10-2006, 04:52 AM

Yes, it can happen that way.

Inside the alternator there are three windings that generate power. There are two diodes on each to rectify the current to DC. When a diode fails, it shorts out. If both diodes that are connected to one of the three windings fail, then that makes a direct short across the battery. It's an easy test, like I said, disconnect the hot lead from it and re-check the battery voltage. Now that I think on it a little more, if the alternator wire isn't smoking or burned off, that's probably not the problem.

8 volts on a healthy 12 volt battery means something is drawing 200 amps of current. Usually, that much current is carried by the starter. There pretty much isn't anything else in the car that can draw that much current, and usuallly anything other than the starter wire that pulls that much current will heat up real fast.

The only other way you could measure 8 volts on a healthy battery when it's connected is if you think you are measuring the battery but you're not. This did fool me once, on a car that would start on a jump or fully charged battery. Replaced the battery and the silly thing did it again a few days later. It was the cable end. When you are measuring the battery voltage, are you using a volt meter, or the meter on the dash? Be aware that cable connection to the battery is a hit or miss affair unless the cable end is new. And if it has a bad internal connection, the car won't jump start because the jumpers are connecting to the mounting bolt, and not the cable.

At first I thought it was the alternator but now I'm leaning more towards a flaky battery cable, because you haven't mentioned anything about smoking wires. The cable ends are cheap enough that it might pay to just replace the ends just as a test. They can drive you crazy until you realize that they can seem clean and tight, and still not be making a good connection. If it turns out you have a bad end, then buy new cables and put the ends in the toolbox for the next time one goes bad.

And on second thought from your previous post, your buddy's battery in the car, 8 volts installed, 0 volts cranking, that means BAD CONNECTION somewhere. And the bad connection can be at any point in the cable, not just at the battery end.

If you have been spending hours and hours on this, and you're not an electrical tech, and you need to replace things until it gets working, then buy and install cables next. That'll probably fix it.

Good Luck!