Thread: Starting Problems

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I have a chevy 350 engine with a turbo 350 tranny. I came home one day, turned it off, went out later to start and move it and it wouldn't turn over! It clicks but won't turn over or fire. There was no indication that something was wrong prior to turning it off. The battery is fine (fully charged), we've tested the starter, it is good too.

Anyone have any suggestions of where to look next?

We're lost for ideas..........

If the batt is fully charged, could be a bad ground (check and clean your terminals) or bad solonoid.

Yup, checked the ground. It's good too. Will have a look at the selanoid.

Had this happin to my 82 Chebby pick up, check the positive batt cable, mine had hit the headers and grounded out.

Otto

You say the battery is fully charged. But did you do a load test, or just put a charger on it til either the light went out, or the amp meter went down? A marginal battery can show "full charge" in a no load condition, but drop as soon as a load is put on it.

Tech's comment is well founded especially if you've let corrosion form on the terminal, and the insulation jacket isn't sealed at the end. The corrosion will migrate under the insulation, and cleaning the terminal end (as most people do) won't deal with the hidden corrosion.

We can rule out the corrosion. They are brand new battery cables.

Tried to boost the car even and it wouldn't go either. The lights still work fine and the volt meter in the dash says it's at 10.5 volts, but when you turn the ignition on it goes down to 9.

I had this happen on a bbc in a 1968 Camaro years ago, when I shorted the solonoid across the terminals sparks would fly and the starter would turn, so, I replaced the solonoid and all was well. (have the solonoid/starter checked)

Turn the engine over by hand to move the ring, if the starter is jamming, this will give it a new set of teeth to grab.
If you can't get the engine to turn by hand (manually) then ya locked it up. Let us know & we can go from there.

Hi all, just wanted to let you know that she's runnin' again. Turns out it was the selenoid. Thanks a million for the input. We'll certainly be around more now to learn from you smarty pants.

Thanks.

Good to hear you got it cranked again, Noraa. Folks here are a wealth of information and help on problems and projects.