Help!

[Baby]

No start and I'm not close to home. Got juice. When I turn the key I hear a buzz like the windshield washers. What should I look at?

[RWebb]

what happens when you turn the headlights on?

what happens when you turn the headlights on & try the starter?

what car is it?

[Baby]

83 sc lights work. When I hit starter with lights on lights go off.

[RWebb]

measure battery voltage w/o load using multimeter

[Baby]

No multimeter. Just turned the key again. Nothing. Turned it again and it fired right up. Heading home. Will look at battery there. Thanks rwebb.

[tcar]

Loose/dirty battery connection?

[Baby]

Gents, I made it home. The car started up, I drove 60 miles home, parked it in the garage, shut it down, tried to start it again and it just hummed like before.

The battery is only a few months old. (PO installed it shortly before selling the car.) Terminals are clean. Voltage measures 12.6 w/out load. I'm going to dig around the forum. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your concern.

[kidrock]

Starter motor may have bad or dirty connections, or got overheated. I bet it starts this morning.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by kidrock

Starter motor may have bad or dirty connections, or got overheated. I bet it starts this morning.

x2... That's the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread.

[Baby]

Kid and SC, after reading around, that's what I'm thinking, too. The cable on the negative battery cable was a little loose, though not loose enough to come off. I put the battery on the charger overnight just for fun. This morning I reconnected the battery cables, and it fired right up. Drove it on country roads for 30 minutes to get it up to temp. Parked it in the garage. Shut it down. Started it. Repeated. Seems to be able to start when warm, maybe just not when hot. (I had been driving it pretty hard last night.) I'm going to check the connections on the starter to make sure they're clean and I guess just see if this becomes a recurring issue. Thanks for your input.

[GothingNC]

I had the same thing happen with a loose/dirty negative battery connection

Turn the key, hear a slight buzz then nothing.

On my old VW, I used to tap the battery terminals with a hammer

[RWebb]

you have a bad battery - if leads put on properly for the no load test then should read a LOT higher

take to Autozone or similar & have them test it using a Load Tester

get it replaced if at all marginal

while it is out:

examine, derust & repair all cables on starter terminals

also examine neg. cable & trans. to body gnd. strap - treat them to a derusting

can't be the ignition switch or there'd be no sound

solenoid problem usually causes clicking; slight chance it is damaged in some other way

[Baby]

My no load test consisted of sticking the multimeter leads on the battery terminals. What's a healthy battery read?

Cables and grounds look great.

[ShakinJoe]

Over 12 volts.

[Baby]

Hence my confusion about rwebb's comment about the bad battery. I thought 12.6 would be considered fine.

[crustychief]

It could read that with a weak cell, as soon as you hit the key it would go below 9 volts.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by Baby

Hence my confusion about rwebb's comment about the bad battery. I thought 12.6 would be considered fine.

Was the engine running at 12.6V? That would be too low; should be 13.5-14.9.

If not, it's OK.

Take it to the store and have them do a battery load test.

[Baby]

12.6 with engine off. I'll try with the motor running and take it in for load testing, too.

[Baby]

Followup: I have not had the battery load tested yet. I did clean the grounds from battery to body and from transmission to body as well as all the leads to the starter, all with sandpaper, wire brushes, wd40, rags. Drove the car hard for a couple hours tonight, and the restarting problem was not apparent. In fact, it sounded great starting up. I realize this may be only a temporary fix.

That said, I tested the voltage again:

motor off: 12.6
at idle after driving: 12.7

Is this low? If so, too low?

[TibetanT]

Hello There:

I am certainly not an expert, but I can tell you that when my 1983 911SC is idling she is putting out 13.6 volts at the battery terminals with multimeter reading. Then, after driving for a while, reading at battery terminals with engine shut off reads about 12.86 volts.

Could it be you are not getting enough current from your alternator?

But, now that I am thinking about it, driving your car around for an hour would charge the battery. Hmmm?

Like someone said earlier, check your cells inside the battery...maybe one is low. I know here in the Northwest during the Winter months the air gets very dry and the battery cells loose their fluids.

Just a thought. I hope this helps. Good luck.