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I have a 1969 camaro with a workred 327/. I had it running a few days ago, and when I went to start it today the starter clicked but it would not turn over. I have heard of selanoids on the firewall clicking if the battery was low, but what would cause the starter to click? I replaced the started and it does the same thing. the battery is at full charge.. I hope this is something small.. Any ideas??
Thanks in advance
If in fact your battery is at full charge, meaning that it will show a minimum of 13.8 volts, and maintain greater than 12 volts under a load test (not just showing 12 volts at "rest" with no load), then it's most likely either a ground issue or a/more than one, loose connection in the starter circuit. The ground issue frequently shows up on new or rebuilt engines because the parts are freshly painted and the starter housing doesn't get a good ground circuit from it's housing, through the engine block, and on to the frame. Also, you should have a ground strap from one of the starter bolts, or at least one of the bellhousing bolts to the frame. Also you mentioned a solenoid on the "firewall". That is more common to Ford. The Chev solenoid is the smaller cylindrical shaped item on the top of the starter motor. If when you changed starters you transferred that from the "old" one to the "new" one, it could be the solenoid that's defective. But I'd start from the top of this list and work down to that rather than jumping to conclusions.
Have you turned the motor over manually (socket on crank pulley) to verify you have no mechancil/hydro lock condition?
I had a seized alternator act like this too...it was enough resistance to keep the starter from turning the motor over! a worried few minutes there as the car stalled at idle and wouldn't crank - thought the darned thing had seized up!
Thanks for the help, it seems that the battety was the problem (bad cell). Now, I have to find what is draining the battery when the key is off and out of the ignition. I recently added MSD, and I am thinking I may have a constant draw on the battery from there? Here we go with the meter again!
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Don't make the assumption that you have a drain. If it does it again, take the battery out and to the store where you bought it and have them check it. Just because it is a new one off the shelf doesn't mean it is good. Before you take another out of the store, ask them put it on a load tester to see if it is OK. I had this problem last year with a brand name battery bought at Schucks - a national box store parts supplier. I went through 3 batteries - each time they said it had a bad cell and they replaced it. Last time I went in, I asked them to load test the new one - it failed right off of the shelf. They made it right by giving me a new Exide gel battery and I have not had any problems. Before I figured things out I pulled my hair out trying to figure the nature of the drain. I had one guy tell me that if you are going to purchase a corrosive battery, go to an Interstate dealer as they usually turn the stock quickly. The box stores buy them in bulk and sometimes they sit on the shelf longer than they should.
Good luck.
I bought a hand held load tester a while back...A tool you can't live without I swear...Also Works great for checking the charging rate and finding drains being that it is also a voltmeter...