Ok, I gotta get on this. My starter was bad so I finally got the old one out.It tested bad. Bought a new one (rebuilt).Friend came by and it took him 15 minutes to put the new one in.Turned the key-just clicks. It had just begun to storm so we didn't go any further. Newer battery-completely charged(yes,I'm sure). It took 3 months for me to get the old one out and I tried for a couple hours today but no luck. I even jacked up the car and tried to get at it from underneath. The starter tested good when I bought it at O'reillys but I'm thinking it must be bad,otherwise my car would start. Should I spend hours trying to get the starter off and exchange it and maybe have the same problem,or do I look for another answer? Battery, alternator,ignition switch are all nearly new.Friend hasn't had time to come back.....Thjere's only one way to put that in ,isn't there? Thanks to any who can offer advice!

 

This same thing happen to me when I was a teenager, I won't tell you how long ago that was but it turned out to be a bad battery cable to the starter, looked good from the outside but was F'ed on the inside.
A quick way to check is to use some jumper cables and hook up to the starter ,be careful not to "short" against the engine.
Just look how long that starter cable is, it's a long way to the starter.

 

Thanks Madman. I kinda suspected the cable because one of the ends to one of the small cables broke off before i put the new starter in, and i attached a new copper lug to the end of it. Thought that fixed it since everything else in the car is getting electricity. A little afraid to use the jumper cables! I have a multimeter but I don't know how to use it. Maybe I should start there? I'm just getting one click when I turn the key.

 

a simple test... meter in DC volts... if its got a manual range setting, set it for XX.XX volts (autoranging, the usual default, just adds confusion to these sorts of tests). where I say "+" terminal below, I mean actually poke the probe at the battery terminal, and not the big lug connector clamped to it.

put one volt meter cable on the battery + terminal, and the other on the big bolt holding the big cable at the starter (scrape the top of the bolt shiny clean), and have someone crank the car. if you see more than about 1 volt, something is fubar with that plus cable.

2nd test, put one volt meter cable on the battery - terminal, and the other on the starter body (ground), scrape a shiny spot for this, then same thing, crank car, see if there's more than about 1 volt difference, you got a problem with the ground.

if its a ground problem, try from the battery - terminal to the car chassis. if that's more than a volt, its a bad battery ground cable... battery - to engine block, if that's more than 1 volt when cranking, its a bad engine block ground strap.

 

Thanks,Pierce! Sounds simple enough.I won't have time to do that til this weekend but I'll let you know what I find.

 

I had this exact issue.


Before you even do that, make sure your battery connections are clean, and have all residue/corrosion cleaned off with sandpaper. My initial assumption was a bad connection, so I cleaned it off with a wire brush, but the problem persisted. A mechanic even diagnosed a bad starter. I went ahead and changed the battery before the starter, but the problem was still there. It turns out that the battery cable connections just needed a good cleaning on every mating surface, nut, and bolt related to the battery posts.

 

Thanks for your reply! I'll make sure every connection is good-that would be a whole lot easier than changing a starter! As I said in my original post, it has a new starter but I still just get a click when I turn the key.Was wondering what are the chances of getting a bad starter from Oreilly. I did get a bad alternator once,so I guess it's possible.So,in a few days,I'll attempt to do the test with my multimeter that Pierce recommended and see what happens. Thank you!

 

Ok-I have a cheapie multimeter from Harbor Freight-new, never used it. It doesn't have a xx.xx setting,Not sure what autoranging is. the dcv numbers go from 200 to 1000.Not sure what to set it at. Battery is getting re-charged at OReilly right now.

 

autoranging is when the meter selector just has a single DC V position, and the 'scale' is dynamic... so if you put in a very small voltage, it reads in millivolts, and for larger voltages, the decimal point floats around. if the meter has a bunch of different DC Volts settings on its selector, choose one that reads 20V or 100V or whatever

 

Ok -got it! Thanks for the quick reply! I'll go get my battery and see what happens.....

 

Not sure where my reply went, so I'll try again. After tracing fat cable from positive terminal to where it splits off at the firewall and goes down toward the starter,the only wire I saw that connects the starter is a green one to the solenoid.I put one probe of the voltmeter on that. Reading: -012.About the same when probed the starter body. At one point, though, the starter started to turn, briefly and slowly. And I could hear the radio noise suppression relay clicking. I don't know what to make of this.

 

there should be 3 wires at the starter, on two terminals. the great big terminal should have a very fat red wire from the battery + and a not-as-fat red wire to the Alternator B+, and the small terminal should have a pink(? color varies) wire from the starter circuit on the ignition key.

 

Gosh, I just don't see it. The battery cable is wrapped up in plastic sheathing and a plastic coiled tube. It disappears under the starter and some of it emerges to connect to the alternator,but I don't see anything connected to the starter itself. I'll have to get under the car this weekend with a big light and see what I can see........