Oldsmobile/Buick: starting the car, cutlass supreme brougham, olds cutlass supreme

Question
'85 olds cutlass supreme brougham, 82,307 miles.
Tried to start it and only got a ticking sound.
Car had been started 1/2 hour before and worked fine.
Battery seems fine, radio worked, lights worked.

Answer
Royce,
The clicking sound is your starter solinoid, attempting to engauge the starter to crank the car. The solinoid may be going bad, or doesn't have enough juice from the battery to operate.
You'll need to do three things to find out what the problem is. Have the altenator checked by a shop. You may have one going bad and not putting out the required amperage. Have them test the battery. Even new batteries can bite the dust early in life with a cell that is going bad. If the altenator and battery checks out ok, then your starter or starter solinoid is the faulty unit requiring replacement of one, or both. I would think your problem lies with the battery or altenator needing replacement seeing you were able to crank the car just 30min. earlier. Hope this helps! Ray