No start, clicking, battery good, starter good, no hood & it rained

[ShadeTreeDSM]

i been driving my car for the last 6 months after my motor rebuild and today i took the hood off to mount some things and do a cleanup on my engine bay.

i went to the parts store & before i got back it rained, so the engine bay was wet.

i went to start it & the starter clicks. so i charged the battery & tested it.

came out to 12.8 volts. so battery is good

tested starter & even tried replacing starter. both good

check all connections & cables for corrosion, cleaned all terminals.



what could it be ? my car was driving fine till it rained...

 

[luv2rallye]

Starter clicking is almost always a weak battery or poor connections (and definately when you know the starter is good). I'm talking the starter clicking - not the starter relay in the console which is a completely different problem. Did you remove and clean cables at BOTH ends of each? The big battery neg cable must go under the starter case mounting bolt - not just to the engine somewhere or the body. And it should go there directly - not to the body first. A second battery neg cable should go to the body. Re-check, clean these and battery posts with sandpaper and tighten securely. Just 0.1 ohm resistance in a poor connection is all it takes to prevent starter from getting minimum voltage necessary to operate. Also measure battery voltage while CRANKING. Measure on post - not on terminal. It must be at least 10V or you have a weak battery. If ok, then measure voltage at big starter terminal on starter while cranking. Measure on post - not on terminal. If not within 0.1V of what you measured at battery while cranking you have a positive cable connection problem (poor connection or cable has internal fracture)!

Another way to check for poor cables/connections is to connect a battery jumper cable from battery negative post to engine block. If it now cranks your negative cable/connection is bad. If not, connect the battery jumper cable from battery positive post to starter positive post. If it now cranks your positive cable/connection is bad.

 

[ShadeTreeDSM]

Starter clicking is almost always a weak battery or poor connections (and definately when you know the starter is good). I'm talking the starter clicking - not the starter relay in the console which is a completely different problem. Did you remove and clean cables at BOTH ends of each? The big battery neg cable must go under the starter case mounting bolt - not just to the engine somewhere or the body. And it should go there directly - not to the body first. A second battery neg cable should go to the body. Re-check, clean these and battery posts with sandpaper and tighten securely. Just 0.1 ohm resistance in a poor connection is all it takes to prevent starter from getting minimum voltage necessary to operate. Also measure battery voltage while CRANKING. Measure on post - not on terminal. It must be at least 10V or you have a weak battery. If ok, then measure voltage at big starter terminal on starter while cranking. Measure on post - not on terminal. If not within 0.1V of what you measured at battery while cranking you have a positive cable connection problem (poor connection or cable has internal fracture)!

Another way to check for poor cables/connections is to connect a battery jumper cable from battery negative post to engine block. If it now cranks your negative cable/connection is bad. If not, connect the battery jumper cable from battery positive post to starter positive post. If it now cranks your positive cable/connection is bad.

i rerouted the battery to the back recently and have 0 gauge positive cable to the front & the 0 gauge ground cable to the rear frame. i sanded down the positive & negative battery cable on both ends and the cleaned frame too to ensure good contact. and my HKS turbo timer reads 12.8 volts and when i turn the key it goes down to 11 volts or so then after i let off goes back to 12.8 volts.

i noticed that the starter smokes if i crank it to long, that has to be that the starter isnt getting good contact with one of the calbes ?

also dont have a ground from the block to frame, but i havent ever since i did the battery relocation, so i dont know if this problem im having now would arise .

 

[tqmx1]

Put the grounding strap on at least try a battry jumper cable between the frame and engine to see if it does the trick. Easy to try and if it is a easy fix.

 

[luv2rallye]

You MUST have a heavy cable from the starter casing mounting bolt (under the head) to the body or frame. It's even more critical now that you moved the battery to rear and negative goes to frame there. You most likely have less than 10-12V at starter when cranking which will burn your starter out.