Re: Slow Turnover

[Daniel Youngquist <dany@domain.elided>]

On Thu, 5 Mar 1998, Joseph M. Shaw, II wrote:

> I have gone out to start it and found that the battery was dead.  This
> is not surprising, but when trying to jump start it with my '66 Dodge,
> with a 383, I can get the thing to turn over, but not fast enough to
> fire.  Even when using a "Club" as a throttle to rev the thing while
> attempting to start the Scout (much better than a 2x4, Tom; the club
> is adjustable!)  I can get just a very slow turn.  I tried charging
> the battery with a home recharger, and it read that the battery was
> full, but I still get no turnover.  The battery is only two-and-a-half
> years old, but has been dragged down a few times in its life by a
> short that I had for a while, and has had a few periods of two to
> three months with no activity, but I would think it would still have a
> little life in it. Even if it were dead, I would think that the 383
> would produce enough charge to turn the thing over.  Am I missing
> something, or is the easiest way to check this just to go get a new
> battery.  I hate to buy one if not necessary, but cannot think of
> anything else.  I realize the starter could be going bad, but I
> thought they pretty much started either working or not working when
> their time came.

Michael,

A couple suggestions.

If the battery's been run completely down a couple times, it could have
a bad cell.  The charger would show full charge, but as soon as you put
a load on it, or if it just sits a while, that cell will go dead.  When
you hook up jumper cables, the current coming through them has to both
try to charge that dead cell _and_ turn your engine over.

Speaking of jumper cables, the scrawny ones can barely (if at all) pass
enough current to turn an engine over, so if they're trying to charge a
hopeless battery at the same time, it ain't gonna work.  At one point I
decided that jumper cables aren't even worth buying unless you go for
the big beefy ones that can get the job done when you need them. 

If it were me, I'd take the battery out of the Dodge and put it in the
Scout.  That'll tell you for sure if you have a starter or battery
problem.

Daniel Youngquist / dany@domain.elided / 541-688-9263 // VISA & MasterCard
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