d00012

My firebird is having trouble turning over. I thought it was a dead battery because it would turn over, but really slowly like a dead battery, well, the battery was bad, so I swapped in the battery from my DD and same thing.

The positive wire was getting really hot. Ground wire looks good, but the positive one looks iffy. The insulation on the positive wire got rubbed off by the belt and looks like there is some corrosion in there. The starter also looks ancient. Could it be the starter or the positive wire with a high resistance/open somewhere?

I bought the car with a bad fuel pump for super cheap, and now this happens as I'm about to move it to change out the pump.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

check power with a volt meter at the starter post while cranking, should drop to about 10 volts with a good battery. that will test the cable. also make sure the ground cable connection is clean and in good condition. you can ohm the neg cable to check it. the best way is to first use the engine block as a ground while doing the first test, then use the neg battery post and compare your readings. if all checks good i would say the starter is bad. worse case is the engine in seized, try turning the engine by hand.

d00012

Do you know the ohm values of the wires? I'll be checking it today with my dad.

Good thing I trained for aviation electronics in the Navy, otherwise I would be lost right now, haha. Just wasn't sure about the specific TPs.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

set your volt/ohm meter to ohms, touch the two leads together, should be 0.0-0.5. the cable should be the same. if its a digital meter and its says OL its bad.

d00012

I don't even think my multimeter says OL, just zeros out, which is crap because that means a short, not an open like I'm looking for, bleh ...some cheap $10 one I bought at Autozone, but that's what I get for being cheap. Nothing like the nice ones we used in the Navy.

d00012

I measured between 0.8 - 1.5 ohms on the positive and negative wires. No open found there. Going to try and hand crank it.

skirkland1980

iTrader: (2)

its probably a bad starter. every bad cable ive ever seen would just turn the engine for a second and then the starter would just click.

d00012

Yeah, it turned over by hand, not easily, had to lean into it, and i'm a healthy 215 pounds! Sitting hasn't been good on that car. Need to get that pump fixed asap!