Starter question, 912-6 super progress
 

MAJOR PROGRESS TONIGHT!!!

Crawled under the car tonight, had the cold start wire on the wrong post, pulled it off and hit the starter and got Grrrr Grrrr Grrr. HOT DOG!!!

Tracked down the issue with the ignition box, got power to it, got a good whine from it. WOOOO HOOOO!

So I made my list of connectors I need to pick up tomorrow, and cleaned up the wiring in the back.

Heres my question. Went to hit the starter one more time before I quit for the night and got "click". Tried again and got nothing but dim lights. Wires are tight on the battery and the starter. I turned the motor over by hand and heard the starter disengage. Tried it again and "click", same thing.

I figure I either need to charge the battery (reads 12.3v), replace the battery ground strap (kind of old), or the starter is weak.

What do you guys think?

If that 12.3 Volt reading is accurate, then your battery is very, very low ... it needs charging! A charged battery reads 12.7 - 13.0 Volts!!!

Thanks, thats just what I wanted to hear. "Charge the battery"

Anything special in charging an optima? Can I just use my plug and go standard car charger?

Yep, that was it, had to charge the battery. Reads 13+ now.

Cleaned up the wiring and dropped it on the ground now, not used to the car being so low.

Decided to check oil pressure tonight, do the 30 second crank. Hit it and the light went out after 10 secs, held it for the entire 30.

I was dying to put the gas in it and fire it up, but it got dark on me and I'm by myself. Tied up tomorrow night, so I'm aiming for thursday after work to break it in. I've got the timing light and the other stuff sitting by the car, waiting. :(

Houston, t minus 45 hours and counting!:D

Sounds good john.. I'm also getting very very close..Fuel injection and exhaust left to go and I'll be back on the road...

t minus 34 hours and counting :D

t minus 10 hours and counting, having trouble thinking about work.

t-minus 4 hours, trying to come up with an excuse to cutout early....cat died....got a temperature....