starter just clicks

[69dodge383]

Had my car out the last couple weekends and it ran really good. Went to get it out yesterday,starter gives one click, sometimes no click, and sometimes a few clicks....but through all this the starter will not engage. I thought it was a bad starter relay so I went to NAPA and swapped it in and got same issue. Ground wires look to be intact...what is my issue here?


Other notes : Battery is new, alternator works

[Cooter]

High torque, mini?
Original Chrysler?
Clean the sh*t outta the Pos./Neg. Terminals. You would not believe how much this can cause headaches.
clean by scraping the posts upward with a pocket knife if proper tool isn't handy.

[69dodge383]

High torque mini starter, i will go out and clean the terminals and try it again

[JB400]

Have to agree with Cooter   You might even have a battery going dead.

[Cooter]

How old? Because these starters (Nipendenso) suffer from contacts burn out. That's really all that goes wrong with them, but unfortunately will require removal to replace.

[69dodge383]

The starter is from last fall. It is not the issue. I am thinking I have had a ground wire or something come loose. I cleaned the battery terminal with the cleaning tool. Reconnected cables and starter clicks twice and then nothing.

this car was running fine the other day and was parked saturday afternoon and then went to start sunday and it started doing this....

I did try to jump the starter via the starter relay, I noticed when I went to connect the jumper wire there was a blue spark, which I thinks means a loose connection or a bad ground...

Doug

[69dodge383]

I also just checked the fuses and all are fine. I also gave the battery a charge and got the same result. I also noticed the headlights seem dim. If I turn on my electric fuel pump it runs with full power. My electric fuel pump is on a separate power source than my starter.

[Cooter]

Check block ground.

[69dodge383]

I checked the grounds and they are tight and look good. I even added another engine to body ground and got the same three clicks. I know the starter is fine. There is just something that is messing my starter up, its not getting full power to the starter, or enough to engage then quit after a few clicks

[69dodge383]

I put my battery on the battery tender for the night. I will give this a shot tomorrow and will report back. Thanks for the help guys!!!

Doug

[A383Wing]

mini starters are known for the contacts burning inside....this is due to crappy design and crappy connections.

wondering how you know for sure that this is not issue...just because starter is new from last fall, does not mean it's faulty

[69dodge383]

mini starters are known for the contacts burning inside....this is due to crappy design and crappy connections.

wondering how you know for sure that this is not issue...just because starter is new from last fall, does not mean it's faulty

I dont know for sure that it is not the starter, but I sure as hell hope it aint cause it aint fun to switch one out around my TTI headers.

I will check more tmw and will report back

Doug

[Cooter]

One way to find out if it's starter.....keep clicking till it turns over. If this happens, you got burned contacts.

[polywideblock]

wouldn't be the first time a "good " battery has just gone bad 

[A383Wing]

I checked the grounds and they are tight and look good. I even added another engine to body ground and got the same three clicks. I know the starter is fine.

One way to find out if it's starter.....keep clicking till it turns over. If this happens, you got burned contacts.

[69wannabe]

Same thing going on with mine, I had cleaned and checked my terminals but the positive end was one of those replacement with the two 1/4 bolts that clamp down on the cable and the nut on the bottom of battery end pulled through causing the cable to be loose and I didn't realize it til it was a real problem. I fixed the end but I sometimes have to start is twice to get it to spin over. Most likely messed up the contacts when it had that bad connection for who knows how long. I have another starter that has been rebuilt just putting off swapping it out since the weather here has been crappy for the last week or so. Maybe I will get it swapped soon as I get off my rear and when it dries up some outside. 

[six-tee-nine]

To be sure 100% if the batt is fine, put a volt meter over it and see what happens when you try to start.

If it drops to something like 6 volts consider it dead and gone. If you have a bad ground or loose connection battery tension wont drop all that much.

Battery connectors tightened down?

Always begin with the power source when searching for an electrical problem, even if the battry is one month old they occasionaly go bad.

[myk]

There's know way to "know" a starter or any other component is good because it's new; parts fail all of the time, irregardless of age.  I know that the prospect of swapping out your starter is dizzying because of your headers, but you really can't rule it out just yet...

[John_Kunkel]

Is the click you're hearing actually coming from the starter or the firewall relay? Jumper the relay to be sure.

[69dodge383]

I swapped the relay on the firewall for a new one yesterday and got the same result.

At this point I am thinking this is battery...when I put the battery on the battery tender last night it showed a red light, still red light this morning. Battery is fully charged when light turns green. Hopefully by morning I will have a green light and will try this again.

Doug

[69dodge383]

Is the click you're hearing actually coming from the starter or the firewall relay? Jumper the relay to be sure.

Starter clicking is the noise I am hearing

Doug

[69dodge383]

Ok so I just got home and checked my battery tender. Light is solid green which means battery is ready to go.

I went to start the car and start has full power and just clicks three times and stops, if i try to start it again...nothing...and try again nothing...then try again and i get the clicks again and then it stops. These clicks are quick and rapid.

Any ideas?

I have another battery I can switch in that is newer than the one have in the car now

Doug

[polywideblock]

use a multi meter to check bat voltage  ,i'v had a "bad " bat that took a charge made charged light come on on charger  and then lost it straight away    still sounds like a bad bat to me 

[69dodge383]

Ok so I went out and tried again. Put the voltage meter on the battery and told my wife to crank the engine. Starter did not click now after a few tries. Also, the voltage meter did not have a voltage drop like you would see with a bad battery. The volt meter started at about 12.7 and did not go below 12.6 when my wife tried to crank engine.

I am going to have her try to start it either later tonight or tomorrow and i am going to tap the starter with a hammer to see if it will get going.

Doug

[MSRacing89]

You have got a bad starter my friend.  If you can't jump it with a screwdriver at the relay.......then there is only one more connection downstream.  Sucks, but its got to come apart.