Hi all, I have a problem that I need some help with. I have a 88' T/A TBI car that will not start unless I have a battery charger hooked to it on the highest setting. Even with the charger hooked up for awhile it is still hesitant. The battery is not very old and it checks to be good with a battery tester.

I thought the starter may have been bad so I switched it out, and it does the same thing. Cranks once or twice then the solenoid clicks.


I'm really at a loss of things to try since I know the battery, starter, and battery terminals are good. Does anyone have some advice on things to look at, or maybe have been there themselves before?


Thanks.

 

Did you check just the voltage on the battery?
What was it? Take it to a parts store and see what the amps are at.
Also how old are your battery cables?
Could be that they are eating up to many amps.

 

I checked the voltage on it with a voltmeter, and the amps with a load tester. It read 12.36V+some change and the amps was what the battery was rated at, 650CCA or so. The cables are original , what's the best way to check them ?

 

Check the resistance with a multi meter.

 

A lot of times, these problems are caused by bad grounds. Check your block grounds and your battery grounds.

 

if you can get a voltmeter on the starter, you say your voltage is at 12.36 then test at your starter, if your starter is getting 12.36 or very close have someone turn the key and keep checking, this is called the voltage drop, if you voltage drops down real bad then you battery cable to starter is bad, or you could do like someone has already said pull the cable off and ohm it, but a single wire strand inside the battery cable will read ok and still when you put voltage to it your pushing power through a cable with possibly over 30 strands through one strand so i'd run a voltage drop with the ignition disabled so the starter can be turned untill you get a reading.