I like to start off by stating the battery is fairly new (Optima Red Top 925ca, 850cca), and the alternator is fairly new (dual rectifier 250amp). I have a brand new Powermaster high torque starter, and I have replaced all of the battery cables with a custom set (2/0 awg) made for the car that I purchased. When I attempt to start the car most of the times I get one click from the starter and nothing else. It will not crank the engine, just one click. If I keep at it for a bit, sometimes takes a long time, it will finally crank and the engine start with no hesitation or problems at all. I have checked all of the battery cables to make sure none of them were loose, they are all tight. My next step is to check the purple ignition wire that activates the starter solenoid to see is it is loosing the 12volts at any point I am turning the key to start the car. Anybody have any suggestions of what else I could possibly check. Is it possible my ignition switch is going bad? Sometimes if i turn the key real quickly it will crank and start right away. I do not know what else to check.

 

Clean the battery cables and check your grounds.

 

Time to start doing some voltage drop tests. Also, don't rule out a bad starter solenoid just because it's new. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen a bad starter out of the box.

 

My 95 was doing a similar thing. Turned out that the connection at starter was not good. I think it was the solenoid wire as well. Anyway, the nut had fused to the stud and broke when I disconnected it. I soldered it all back together and it worked flawlessly for a few days, but the solder wouldn't hold so I broke down and replaced the starter.

On my 86 v6 it screwed the stud into the battery to far and it cracked the houseing. So the acid was leaking out around the terminal. Every so often it wouldn't start and I'd have to wiggle the positive wire's connection. I found this out after replacing the alternator twice (new then swapped out for a second new one) thinking it wasn't charging the battery properly.

So like said above, clean your contact points, battery & starter.

Good Luck

 

Thanks to all for the quick replies. I should have stated before that this was happening with my old starter, which was why I bought the new one. Had it rebuilt once before and wanted to start with a fresh starter with hopes of eliminating the starter itself as a cause. I'm thinking its not the solenoid because I had the prob with a couple of starters. I just put the new starter in so I know the connections on the solenoid are clean and tight. When i attempt to start the engine the main power wire from the battery does not have any significant voltage drops. I haven't yet checked the solenoid wire for voltage while attempting to start. My battery had failed recently from age and I put the new one in not due to this problem so those connections are tight, but not overtightened, and clean.

One person mentioned the ground. The ground wire is nice and tight from the engine block to the battery as well as the battery to the body, by the power steering tank. Anybody know any good ways to maybe assist the grounding of the starter. Like maybe possibly running a heavy separate ground wire from the starter mounting bolt to the frame somewhere?