I am thinking my starter may be going bad. sometimes it starts really slow as though it is in the middle of the winter and cold as hell. I have a mini starter from Summmitt and also a remote solenoid mounted on the pass side firewall. does anybody know of a way I can test the starter to see exactly how much power it is using to start the motor??? I have a volt meter so I should be able to get an exact number, as long as I know how to do this type of test.

 

don't need a voltmeter, you need an amp meter. and not the one found in your typical voltmeter/amp meter combo, those are usually only rated to 10amps MAX.

 

Take it to an auto parts store, they sould be able to test it for you. If you do the test yourself, you will need an Ampmeter not a voltmeter.

 

this meter I have is one spendy meter so I am sure it measures amps. what do I look for on this thing to measure amps, its a Fluke-not sure if that brand names uses a peticular symbol to measure amps. do I just put one wire from the meter to the battery cable going to the starter and the other to a ground and then watch the meter???

 

Your meter does measure amps, look for the "A". As previously mentioned though, your meter may not be capable of measuring the amps the starter will draw. If your meter is only rated to 10A DC, and your starter draws minimum 40 or 50A, then you run the risk of destroying your meter.

 

FYI and i flipped through the fluke catalog at work and the highest i saw for amp rating was 20A. they sell an individual ampmeter for this purpose. don't fry your fluke meter, mine was $450 and it does 10A max.

 

Stock starters draw somewhere in the neighborhood of 350-400 amps, I don't think you'll want to get one just to test that much.

As was suggested, taking it to an autoparts store is your best bet.

 

Fluke and many other companys make a probe for measure high currents with a regular meter. It is a clamp that goes around the wire. When pluged into the meters voltage ports it will tell you the amperage in the wire.

 

after I looked at my meter I could very easily tell what my amp meter looked like but it is only 10 amps so I am not going to use that to test it. thanks for all the help guys!