help. did I fry my starter?

[bkreigsr]

I accidently bridged the battery terminals while trying to loosen the pos, after disconnecting the neg. big spark, melted some lead in the neg.

77 930 - car will not turn over with a 12 volt reading on the battery, and it feels/sounds like bad things are happening when I try to crank

(Tuesday I noticed the car to be cranking slower than normal, and I wanted to disconnect the battery until I got a chance to track down a slow battery draw.)

new alternator in Aug, new battery in June.

is the starter a pain to do? I read that you have to bear hug the trans to reach over/around to get the top bolt.

any help is greatly appreciated, oh, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm a complete moron dealing with things electrical.

Bill K

[tswaney]

Sorry I can't offer any suggestions on the electrical damage potential, but.....
I just did the bear hug on Wed. to get the top barrel nut off. If you have to do it, it isn't too bad, outside of being covered in 30+ year old lube/grease/grime up to my elbows.

[afterburn 549]

if you shorted across the batt, you would have no effect on starter..you may have fried the insde of the cable near the batt, but the short would stay local, not stray dwn stream..so in short (oops) I would look for the problem near the batt..clean all connections replace any cable that might have come on soldered ect

[Goth]

Never heard of the starter getting fried by shorting the battery terminals.

When you say bad sounds; If you mean a "click, clack, click" sound when to try to start it, that may be the starter solenoid. They make that sound when not getting enough power.

I would start with the basics first by charging the battery and checking all the fuses.

Hope this helps!

[bkreigsr]

thanks Tom. were you able to get a socket set up there, or did you use a key? my grime doesn't look too bad as previous owner had the clutch replaced prior to my purchase in Apr 05.

[bkreigsr]

Goth not even a click, click, ...just a slow quarter turn, then stop

[Green 912]

Charge the battery or use a jump start box to start the car. Shorting the terminals should not hurt anything other than the terminal tops, whatever you shorted them with and perhaps your pride.

[bkreigsr]

problem solved.
charged battery, fitted revised cable connections to battery posts, checked for sub-par cable, and it fired right up. I think the cable ends were mismatched to the battery posts, and even though the bolt was tight, I was not getting a full contact.
thanks all
Bill K