OK, I've researched a bit and it seems that I need to check my grounds, but I wanted some contributions from the community first.

The 91RS went in for body work and when it came back, every 3rd time I tried to start (not exactly every third, but you get the idea) I just get a single loud click (from the starter I assume).

I keep turning the key, sometimes once, sometimes 30 times, and it always eventually starts. But now, when it does turn over, its sluggish. I have to pump the gas to get her to turn over completely otherwise she stalls. This NEVER happened before. It used to be one turn, ready to go.

I took her in and she has had TWO new starters. After the third starter was put in, they said it must be something else, and came up with the battery cables. They said the cables were giving too much resistance. Not willing to pay 130 to put in $10 cables, I did it myself. Nothing changed.

Called my uncle the mechanic, he said it has to be the starter, battery or ground. Battery is brand new (second battery in as many months). Starter, also new. Second one of those as well (I still have the other good one sitting in the garage).

I hooked her up to my hyundai to get a jump and it started up perfectly without a hitch. That is what prompted me to get a new battery. New battery did nothing.

So, with that said, and me with no money and only aspiring car knowledge, what's a man to do? I haven't checked my grounds yet, but the battery cables are brand new. That would leave me to check the frame and engine grounds, but would that really do this?

I don't understand what would have changed to make her do this?!

Specific tips and even pictures are appreciated. I am new to this.

 

Get a battery with more cranking amps. Sounds like it isn't powerful enough especially when you say you have no problems when hooking up jumper cables to another car. In my V6 I have the biggest battery that can fit in there with the most cranking amps. I have the yellow MAXX battery from wal-mart, i think its 750-800 CA but dont remember.

 

I bouth some new Optima Battery, costs around 90 from Autozone or whatever its clone is. I figure that, paying that much for a battery, this one should suffice. I asked them which battery was needed for my particular car, thus I assume that it is correct.

To sum, I got a new battery installed during body work, and that one didn't work. Went to buy another new one, supposedly top of the line, and it still doesn't work.

If it DOESN'T have enough craking amps, are the symptoms described, i.e. a loud click and no turning over sounds about right? Furthermore, if it doesn't have enough juice, then it would seem that it would never start up. But with my issue, it does start up eventually, just takes a bunch of clicks.

 

you said it worked fine when jumpered to another car. You dont have enough cranking amps. I think that the optimum batteries are over-rated and it doesn't mean anything if it doesn't have enough cranking amps. A battery's power can change slightly with different temperatures.

 

Alrighty. I'll head to swap her out to get a stronger one and then post results.

 

Mr battery is rated:

910 cranking amps
720 Cold Crank
90 rc (or something like that)

Shouldn't think be enough to git-r-done?

EDIT: According to Autozone, the rating I have is the highest they recommend, actually a bit higher. I think that it should be sufficient, no?

 

yeah 910 should work. But it might not have that much power anymore. Try to swap the battery from your other car.

or maybe your alternator isn't charging your battery good enough...