QuestionQUESTION: new interstate battery, new plunger & contacts in starter, alternator rebuilt. still doing same thing. voltmeter on battery shows over 14 volts charging.
example today, drive it to work & home ( 5kms one way) for 2 weeks straight. Go to run errands today do 5 stop starts in less than 2 hours. Go to do 6th start - just clicks. I am outside Canadian tire - they give me one of those battery packs to boost it - try 5 or 6 times, just clicks , leave booster on for a few miuntes try again, just clicks, few minutes more same. Give the shop back their booster, try it again, just clicks. I roll it down a little hill, bumpstart it,and it starts so I drive home, 3 kms max to get home. Turn it off. See if it will start and it starts 5 times! friend comes over a few minutes later, so I show him - it starts another 5 times!. it could not have recharged a dead battery in 3 kms enough to start the truck ten times, and it is probably still starting. I have been fighting this problem all summer long and it is very frustrating. it seems to happen when I do these quick trips and turn it on & off 3 or 4 or 5 times in the period of an hour. I am baffled, spending way to much money on it and would really appreciate any clues on what the problem may be. Thanks in advance, very very much for any clues.
ANSWER: Does the clicking sound like it's the starter solenoid or the starter relay under the hood?
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QUESTION: I guess it would be the starter relay.
the starter plunger that the contacts are on,which would be part of the solenoid, was changed. My mechanic said he put a "kit" in it although I dont know what all was in the kit - he showed me the old plunger with contacts. I bought the battery and the alternator was rebuilt and tested by a very very reputable shop, so I dont think anyone is pulling a fast one on me.
I am an electronic tech so have a voltmeter. Battery voltage was only 12.5 this morn but of course the truck started. Alwasy when this has occured I drive for weeks again, I never charge the battery with a charger - thats why I am so confused.
Anyway, this morn I wired up my voltmeter to a cigarrete lighter adapter and drove around for 15 -20 mins, hwy up to 60mph and city driving. the voltage was always above 13.7 to about 14.1.
Except for one time one I downshifted to 2nd, and almost stopped and turned for a tight curve, I think I saw it drop to 12.2 for a second, but then it was back up. So maybe I am looking for a loose wire, ( but my mechanic has looked for this ) or a wire, to say the fuel pump in the tank, shorting somewhere when I turn? Or maybe my alternator is still acting up? When I turned the truck off, the battery was still down at 12.5!
So, know I have put the battery on charge, charged it for a few hours, letting it sit with the ground cable off, so it cant leak voltage, in a few hours I will check the voltage to ensure it's still up to at least 12.8.
Then I will connect the ground cable, and again let it sit for a few hours, and see if it gets dragged dow.
If you know of anything that could be intermittently dragging down the battery while I am driving,( like where I said I thought I seen it drop to 12.2 ) I would appreciate the tip.
I was previously thinking maybe an ignition module or something was giving me grief, but it would not have bump started the other day if that was the case, would it.
Really really appreciate your help Ted.
AnswerOk, the next time it just makes the clicking noisedisconnect the solenoid wire and use a jumper wire directly from the positive battery post to the starter solenoid, I would suggest having a jumper wire handy so you can do this right away when the clicking is going on, if the starter engages this way then we can positively rule it out as the problem, sometimes the contact replacement isnt successful so I need to eliminate this first then go from there, it doesn't sound like there is an excessive draw on the system. Besides the starter it could be the starter relay or a voltage drop between the ignition switch and the solenoid or the positive battery terminal and the starter connection.
