Thursday, I put a good battery from my black car into my purple car. I KNOW that the battery is good. I go out there today to start the purple car, and I get a couple of slow engine turns then the typical starter clicking.

The battery was showing 11.98 volts with the negative cable unhooked. In line with the DVM set to amps, I was showing a .079 amp draw. WITH the negative cable hooked up, volts across the battery were 11.96.

For comparison, the brand new battery I stuck in the black car shows 12.86 volts (it hasn't been run yet). With the DVM in line, it showed about a .018 amp draw.

Could this just be a starter issue with the purple car?? It's always been a slow turner, or could something else be amiss here. I've done about all the troubleshooting I can take with this infernal thing. Once I get the car started it's fine, runs fine, stays running. Getting it started on the other hand, well, is proving to be an issue anymore.

Any thoughts or ideas?

 

You can have my starter and give it a try since I just ordered the LT4 starter.

Rich

 

DUDE!!!! My bad, I comletely forgot to get back to you about this weekend!!!! Crap! Sending you an email, I may give that a shot.

 

A 79ma draw (parasitic load) will drain a fully charged battery in about 3-4 days. Max allowable is 30ma but even that will drain a battery down in 8-10 days of dormancy. It sounds like you have two issues on the purple car, a high parasitic load and possibly a starter,cable or ground problem. I say possibly because you didnt specify how it cranks with a good strong battery.

 

It still cranks pretty slowly with a good charge. I just had some help to crank the car while I watched the DVM, and with the starter engaged the volts dropped to 4.5 with the motor being turned by the starter, and when that gave up and the starter started clicking, the volts steadied at about 10.5. The battery IS good, it was just run on thursday in my black car with no problems at all.

 

Though the battery may be good @ 10.5 volts it is discharged. A fully charged wet cell battery should read 12.3 volts. You posted earlier that it read 11.98 volts at which I would say it was less than 50% charged. 10.5v is dead in my book.

 

Here's something very interesting. On a whim, I just pulled EVERY fuse/relay from the block under the hood and the fuse box on the driver side of the dash. I STILL got a .081 amp draw. No change at all!

I'm putting the battery on the charger to see what will happen there. Rich, if you don't mind, I'd like to give your starter a shot. Call me when you get off work tonight please!!

 

This just got crazy:

I just charged the battery. Was showing 12.60 volts when I pulled the charger off of it. On a whim, I kept the voltmeter on the battery. 12.59.......12.58.......12.57.........12.56....... weird. So I disconnect the battery. Holds 12.56. Reconnect the battery.......12.56.......12.55.........12.54..... .

Every 9 seconds by my timing the battery was losing .01 volts!!!! WTF, because I pulled all the fuses and relays under the hood and in the driver side of the dash the other day and it made no change to the .080 amp draw.

Anyone have ANY ideas at all??

 

Do you have any stereo amps,alarm, lojack stuff like that in the car that may not be on an existing circuit? Also check the radio and ECM, both need constant B+ to retain memory. Another sneeky sucker could be the glovebox lamp.

Edit: Also try disconnecting the alternator, it may have an internal short.

 

There is a single stereo amp which I personally installed and verified was drawing no power upon initial installation. The glovebox lamp was an issue, but I removed that bulb so there should be NO issue there anymore.

Funny thing about the car is if it's driven every day it's fine. If it sits more than a day, it's a problem.

 

Update:

Two days timeframe the battery went from a charge of 12.3 volts to 11.8-11.9 volts, and the car won't start. It will crank over slowly once then the starter will start clicking. The lights and everything else works, including the horn.

Out with the multimeter again: DC Amps, negative wire to the battery negative post, positive wire to the negative cable on the car. Still getting a .081 amp draw. So, I disconnected the alternator. No change. Having already pulled every fuse and realy under the hood/in the cabin with no luck, I figured I'd disconnect the ENTIRE system. I went to the distribution block just above the battery and disconnected the BATTERY cable, essentially cutting the battery away from everything but the starter at this point.

With that cable disconnected, and the alternator disconnected, the ONLY things left hooked up and in line were the starter and the MSD (not pulling anything). The draw was still .081 amps.

So does that narrow it down to the starter/starter wiring???

 

I'm having the exact same issues as you man......My car will not start after sitting 1-2 days, but if I drive it everyday then I am just fine. I havent gone into checking what the problem is, but If you find anything out please let me know what is up.....I may be taking it into a shop and see if they can narrow it down for me though, I'll let you know what they say if I end up taking it in.

 

If its the positive block that you disconnected then yeah that should isolate the rest of the cars circuits. Since you will be in the area of the starter anyway disconnect the starter and reconnect the pos. distribution block and double check for the draw before buying any parts just to be on the safe side.

It sounds like you may have found the problem.....hopefully. Good luck.