Hello everyone. So, I've been trying to figure out what could be going on with my 240, and was hoping someone might have an idea. On a normal day, the starter cranks pretty slowly. I'm pretty sure it's due for replacement, and last time I was underneath the car I did notice that it is a rebuilt unit that has already been replaced at some point. But what I don't understand is, after I drive maybe 15 miles or more, it will crank so slowly that it barely is able to start the car. I mean really, really slow, like one crank per second. But if I'm just driving around town (less than a few miles), it starts fine.

I know that I need to replace the alternator belts, and I've already swapped in a new voltage regulator for an unrelated issue a couple years ago. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

 

whats the battery voltage when this happens ? (hint, bring a volt meter with you, check it next time it happens). a charged battery is in the 12.6-12.8 volt range, a mostly discharged one is 12.1 or so, anything less than 12.0 is nearly dead. when the car is running, you should see about 1 or 1.5 V more, from the alternator charging the battery.[*]

assuming the battery is fine and fully charged, I'd be guessing starter motor ground, or battery main ground cable, or something like that.. put one end of the volt meter on the negative terminal, the other on the engine block ground (like on the intake manifold, there's a bunch of stuff grounded), and have a friend crank, you shouldn't see more than a small voltage difference, maybe 1V, in those two grounds while its cranking. if you see a bunch of volts, then start checking the big ground wires working back from the battery.

* edit: right after charging, a battery reads the higher voltage, this is called a surface charge, and dissipates in a couple hours. so when you want to read the charge state of the battery, you should do it after its been off for a couple hours.

 

Ok will do, thanks for the suggestion. That would be awesome if it was something as simple as a bad ground. I'll post more info after my next out-of-town journey. (I live in a pretty small town in Idaho, so a 15 mile trip might only happen once or twice per month)