motor built, wont crank

[DJYoshaBYD]

ok.. I just finished my 6 bolt build for my 1g.... I can crank the motor by hand... its kind of hard to, but not any harder than I would expect a new motor to turn... I tried to crank it for oil pressure and the battery acted like it was dead... reaaaallll slow cranking then click click click... just like a dead battery... BUT, I hooked up the volt meter to the battery to see if I was dropping voltage when I crank the motor and WOW....its at 12.6-12.8 volts when the key is turned, then when I go to actually crank it, the battery drops to 5-8 volts... we tried to put in 2 new batteries AND jump it to a running car and it still drops to about 5-8 volts and wont turn the motor...there's just not enough voltage to... I know its not the battery... I tried 3 of them

Now, my question is, do I have a bad ground somewhere?? I cant find the grounds in the manual...

Does anyone know where all the grounds are?

 

[Billy6411]

Sounds like you have a bad groung make sure your engine and trannie are grounded to the body and the battery is grounded.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

are those the only grounds? I will check the tranny, but I dont remember seeing a ground there

 

[turbo90gsx]

There are only 2 gounds that come off the battery stock. One that goes from the battery to the firewall and one that is in the starting harness that goes from the battery to the bottom starter bolt. The other locations of stock ground cables for the engine-body are on your intake manifold and on the trans-frame. When cranking voltage drops down that far usually there is excessive huckn' pucky on the starter solenoid contacts soaking up voltage. I would venture to say that your solenoid contacts need to be cleaned. Have you replaced your starter recently? Also make sure that your battery cables are good and clean. Too much corrosin in the cable will also cause this problem.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

no, I have not even touched it, but it was perfect before I took everything apart.... ummmm.... Im going to check everything around the starter... there has to be something touching one of those contacts.... right? I mean, that would make sense....

also, I have 2 brownish/yellowish wires that are connected to my wiring harness that goes into the alternator... one has a plug attached that looks like it would plug on to a nipple... I grounded those out yesterday with a jumper wire and that didnt help the starting problem... I was just curious what they go to... I got a crappy haynes manual and it doesnt tell me simple things of that nature...haha

 

[onebadtsi]

Put power right to the starter and see if it cranks fine. If it does then your problem is in the wiring somewhere.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

haha... thats exactly what I was going to do... I just got to get to it first... alot of stuff in the way

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

anyone else want to chime in with some opinions? as you may have seen from my other threads, I like alot of different opinions.... it helps to narrow things down a bit...

 

[griffin81]

Has any of wire ground wires been pinched or crushed or have a nicks in them? They might a allow a short to happen.

 

[csgsx23]

Best bet is to check all of your grounds very well and then i would check out your wires around the battery and starter to see if the have corroded or if they are shorting out somewhere. Keep us posted.

 

[delta448]

I'd look at the starter first. When voltage drops like that it usually means there is a physical obstruction or a really weak connection causing more resistance. Voltage should drop a bit when the starter is engaged but I doubt that much is normal. Check how the starter is lining up with the flywheel and check the starter power/ground lines.

 

[luvmygst]

Has any of wire ground wires been pinched or crushed or have a nicks in them? They might a allow a short to happen.

You have more to worry about a 12v source wire shorting out, the whole car is a ground, so even if a wire were pinched/crushed it would not hurt anything. The only way for a ground wire to short is if it comes into contact with a hot wire. A ground wire could mabey get chrushed enough to create an open circuit, and that could cause a prblem.(thats not likley though)

To the thread starter I would check all the grounds and then take the starter to get checked at a local auto parts store. Thay ususally do it for free. It could also be a battery going bad you might get it checked too. good luck

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

its not the battery and not the starter.... I still havent checked anything yet... today is the stupid bowl, so the place where I work on cars is unavailable today.... probably tomorrow... I KNOW it has to be a ground...

O.. and I got a bunch of pics of the build... I will post as soon as I can drive it...

 

[luvmygst]

its not the battery and not the starter.... I still havent checked anything yet... today is the stupid bowl, so the place where I work on cars is unavailable today.... probably tomorrow... I KNOW it has to be a ground...

O.. and I got a bunch of pics of the build... I will post as soon as I can drive it...

Why ask for advice and then say "I know it not this and this but I havent checked anything? But I know it has to be a ground?"????WTF

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

I know its not the battery, because as i have said, I tried 3 different batteries... the starter is good because with a full charge it starts to crank and then dies from lack of voltage...

If you dont have anything constructive to say, then bounce...

thanks everyone for your help (well, almost everyone)... I will post later when I get to my friends house...

 

[luvmygst]

I know its not the battery, because as i have said, I tried 3 different batteries... the starter is good because with a full charge it starts to crank and then dies from lack of voltage...

If you dont have anything constructive to say, then bounce...

thanks everyone for your help (well, almost everyone)... I will post later when I get to my friends house...

That doesnt mean its not still the starter. you could have a shorted winding. Have it checked.

 

[delta448]

I agree with what luvmygst said:

... the starter is good because with a full charge it starts to crank and then dies from lack of voltage...

This is not good logic. It doesn't prove the starter is okay.

It does sound like a grounding issue, but don't count out the starter (or its power and grounding points) until you check it or prove it's not the culprit by some kind of test, like you did with the battery.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

I was watching the power drain with a volt meter... if the starter motor or solenoid went out, then it would still drain only a few volts at the most.... its a wire... I just got to dig through the engine bay to check it out, which Im about to do in 2 hours... when I get home later, I will post my findings...

I was thinking that I forgot to bolt the bracket that goes from the IM to the block and its touching a contact on the starter... I will find out though

 

[snox135]

I was watching the power drain with a volt meter... if the starter motor or solenoid went out, then it would still drain only a few volts at the most.... its a wire... I just got to dig through the engine bay to check it out, which Im about to do in 2 hours... when I get home later, I will post my findings...

I was thinking that I forgot to bolt the bracket that goes from the IM to the block and its touching a contact on the starter... I will find out though

No, you will lose at least a couple volts with a good starter when starting the engine. A bad starter motor could take out the battery all together. It's rare but it does happen. Either the motor or solenoid if bad could easily drop voltage to 5 volts.

 

[thor]

you can rule out a tight engine too.

When I had mine rebuilt, I had to hand turn it every day so it wouldn't lock up in the cylinders (new rings) but took a tremendous amount of force to turn with a large 1/2" wratchet.
The starter had no problem turning it even though I busted a nut trying to turn it by hand. I wouldn't be so quick to rule out bad starter.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

im about to push start it... haha.... I checked the starter... when we let the batt charge fully, it will start to crank and then die again... I checked all the connections at the starter, and I tried different batteries again.... I checked resistance on every ground I could find, all right around 0 ohms.... The motor is hard to turn by hand, but its a new motor... that starter has the power and the gear reduction to do it easily...

Does anybody think it might be a bad wire in the steering wheel area? That is part of the circuit that starts the car, and thats when I notice the power drop... I installed a bracket on top of my steering column to hold my boost gauge... maybe I messed something up by the ignition switch

 

[delta448]

I installed a bracket on top of my steering column to hold my boost gauge... maybe I messed something up by the ignition switch

It's possible. Did you drill any holes or drive any screws in? I'd take the cover off the column and check it out.

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

yeah I did... Im going to check that out in a couple of hours.... that is a big possibility... My dad told me to check the resistance in the hot wire that goes from the battery to the starter....he said that could be the problem if its a bad wire

 

[teamo2t]

Just a thought, did you check timing? A friend of mine recently swapped to a 1G head and did not tension the Tbelt right. Timing was off a few teeth and it would crank very slowly but not start...

 

[DJYoshaBYD]

amazingly... I did it right the very first time... its not off teeth at all....