Cadillac Repair: starter problems on a 04 deville, jumper cables, starter problems

Question
i had hooked up a booster box to the battery and tried to start the car but the starter just clicked. could it be that i am not getting enough juice to the starter or is the starter just bad

Answer
Andy,
Could be several things actually, a dead battery is a BIG drain that a booster box has to overcome in order to start the car. For this reason, your booster box MUST be in tip-top shape. Make sure you're getting a good connection at the battery (move the clamps around and make sure you see a spark as you're moving it). On top of that, try connecting it and leaving it for a minute or so before trying to start the engine, this allows the vehicle's battery to absorb a little charge from the booster pack, which reduces the load on the system. Other than that, without being able to verify how much amperage you're applying to the starter, it's tough to know for sure whether the problem is the booster pack being weak, or the starter being bad or in poor condition. My money is on the booster simply being too weak to supply enough amperage to start the engine. Might be a better idea to get some jumper cables and a running jump car. This will allow you to partially charge the dead battery by leaving the cables and jump car connected for a short while, then starting the dead car.