it only would happen to me of course...i was all happy i'd finished my dual exhaust, i'd driven it to work that day, brought it home was looking over everything, replaced the cap and rotor, started up great, took it back out for a spin(let the dad drive this time) and came back and parked it for the night.

next morning, get up to start it, and nothin, windows go down, battery seems low, but when ya turn the key, it just does nothing, the warning beep tones down, and stops...so i figure its either a short somewhere, or the starters bad, maybe just the sylinoid. to be on the safe side i run out and pickup a new starter on my way home from work (had to drive the clunker 89 trooper) and we install it, im all happy its replaced, go to turn the key, same exact thing!!! oh man was i gettin worried.

about this time, im under the hood, having my dad turn the key, see if i can see any sparks, you know, see if theres a short somewher i can't see, or listen for any weird noises. so im next to the battery, and i hear this fizzing sound, like some hot liquid boiling, or oozing out of a gap? and it smells horrible, oh its god awful. we determine its from the battery, so we go to remove the battery, but when we try to unscrew the positive battery lead its burning hot, and covered in corrosion.

cleaned off the terminal, and the battery wire, as well as any other contacts we could get to, and my elky started right up, PHEW what a relief...too bad the starters such a pain to get to, so we just left the new one on there, figure its one less part to go bad right?

anyways, the moral of the story is, always check your battery terminals after doin some under the hood work....a buddy who was helpin me do work unscrewed it w/o me knowing, and grease or dirt must have gotten in there, because these terminals were awfully grody.

just a quick question for anyone who actually read this post...my new starter seems to "turn" slower, as in, my engine takes about a second longer to kick in, is it just a "tight" starter, is it possibly weaker? any ideas? its not a big issue, it just changed the sound of my elky starting up, and its just odd for me:)

Baking Soda can be used to neutralize battery acid corrosion. Make sure you disconnect the battery terminals before cleaning. Make up a paste of 3 parts Baking Soda to 1 part water, apply with a damp cloth to scrub corrosion from the battery terminal. After rinsing and drying the battery re-connecting the terminals. Wipe them down good with some petroleum jelly or a bearing grease to prevent future corrosion.

It sounds like the new starter doesn't have as much torque as your old one. Is your new one a rebuilt starter?

:mrgreen:

Baking Soda can be used to neutralize battery acid corrosion. I've heard that you can use a Coke too, works great to remove rust on your bumpers as well. Always knew that suff was good for something! 8O

I'd also have your battery tested to see if it's holding a full charge...

I've heard that you can use a Coke too...

And Pepsi works too.

:mrgreen:

The early 70s have the negative cable tied to the alternator bracket. It's screwed on with a small sheet metal bolt. My 72 won't start on Sunday night. I wasn't working on the car at all. Yep, changed the starter in the dark. Still won't start. Dang little cable bolt and loosened itself over time.

yeah the new starters a rebuilt starter :( and thats exactly what it seems like....could it be bad for my car to leave it on there? or whats the deal with it? yeah i used a wire brush, we were all out of coke, or else i would've done that....wouldnt've been the first time :)

yeah the new starters a rebuilt starter

I'd bring it back and get another one. Buying re-manufactured parts is sometimes like rolling dice, you could get craps.

:mrgreen:

It's possible it's not the starter at all.

I'd suggest this...as I'm going through something similar. Contact a local generator/alternator rebuild shop and arrange to have a LOAD test put on your starter (this must be performed with the starter ON THE CAR). A bench test will not show how the starter performs under load.

Although the reman starter may be at fault, I'd be more suspicious of the cable that was on that 'hot' hot post. It may be carrying the voltage but could have become fried enough to not be able to carry the amps necessary to power the starter.

It takes very few amps to power lights...and a bad cable can still carry enough amps to do that but not enough to fully power the starter...which has the biggest draw of anything.

A partially capable cable becomes more of a resistor than a conductor.

Also check your other connections of both cables...at both ends and at the pigtails.

If in doubt, replace the cables. It's a lot easier to do that than to pull he starter out!!. If that does not change things, get the load test done. It, after all, could be a subpar reman unit...been known to happen.

If you get new cables from GM, be advised that the new ones are nothing like the originals...if that bothers you. I'm workig right now with a company to repro my hot lead (to an exact match) after a Delco battery crack failure (prevalent these days)...I'll post status or progress on that repro effort when I know more.

Post back here what you find out.

Good luck!!

Taj

I'm having a garage work on a similar problem with my '72. I changed the battery, starter, soleniod, and cables. Still had the problem. I thought I had a motor problem.
I then had it "flat-bedded" to the garage and they are pretty sure it is a ground issue where the starter comes in contact with the block. They are working on the Elky now.
Double check ALL cables and grounds. Scrape off any and all paint where they come in contact with the block or body. Scrape off the area where the starter comes in contact with the block.

John Muha hit the nail on the head with regards to 3rd gen Elky's and the ground cable going to the alt bracket. This caused a no start problem for me this past weekend. I changed the battery, starter, soleniod, and cables. No good. I had to have a mechanic look at it. Very quickly he took the negative cable that went from the battery to the alt bracket, and rerouted the cable to go from the negative battery post right to the engine block. Fired right up. The mechanic said to troubleshoot this, just disconnect the negative battery cable. Then take the two black cables from a good pair of jumper cables. Attach one to the negative battery post, and the other to the engine block. If it fires up, your problem is a bad ground. Reroute the cable and your done.
Check out the pic at http://levitanj.home.mindspring.com/carshow03/carshow.html?

Hope this helps.

The service manual says to always replace the batt cable when replacing the starter. Just an FYI thing.