alright, a few weeks ago my starter went out (kept running after car was started) so i replaced it with a starter from autozone. car started up fine 6 times. go to get gas, and no start. push started it, took it home and took starter off and re-installed after checking everything. started 4 times and did the same thing. thought mabey the starter was a dud so i sent it back and ordered a heavy duty Powermaster and put it on. started up 3 times and then a no start. this time it had no power to the gauges, and would not take a push start (popping clutch to start). took new starter back out and checked all grounds, re-instaled. now have power to the gauges but still only a few starts b4 it wont start anymore. and when it would start it would drag really bad while cranking. saw that the voltage was dropping when starting so i went up and got a new optima battery. tried that and STILL a no-go. anyone have any ideas? i am going crazy here!!!!!!

 

You have a bad connection. Which ones have you checked so far?

 

checked the one behind the AC, the one on the starter. and the one from the battery.

TTT

 

Now you want to check the ones that are missed all the time. The frame has a ground and the engine has a ground. Take em off clean the cables and the spots they hook to real well, reinstall them and then do a final check.
With someone cranking the engine, see that the voltage across the battery does not go below 11V.

With the engine running be sure the voltage across the battery is close to 14 volts. If not you may have a bad alternator.

Let us know what you find out.

 

Since you mentioned no power to the gauges once (not sure if you had power elsewhere), you might have a faulty/worn out ignition switch. Replacement instructions on my Tech Page.