More than one dead starter motor... help please.

[1968 Falcon]

Long story short: my car won't start.

Long story long: I decided I would replace the starter motor on my Falcon, it still worked, but had a pretty impressive sound, sort of like it was filled with BBs. I picked up a new motorcraft one from AutoZone and installed it in my car. Before I put it in I tried the old one a couple times just to make sure everything was working, it was. Once the new one was in I tried it several times, the first 2 times it worked, but after that it did nothing. Turning the key only made the lights go dim, and the solenoid buzz/ clunk continuously, the same way it would if the battery were dead. I took the car back to AutoZone (via pop starting) and replaced my also very old solenoid with a shiny new Motorcraft one, and still when I turned the key it would only buzz. We then tried jump starting it, attaching a different battery, and ended up taking the starter out again and testing it inside. As it turned out it was completely shorted out, no movement at all. I figured that it had just been the new starter all along, and I ended up getting my rusty old one back because they didn't have any more in stock. I put my old one, that had been working, back in the car and tried starting it. But the same thing happened! The solenoid just buzzed/clunked. I took out the new solenoid and put the old one back in, restoring everything to exactly the same way it had been when the car was starting fine! Now when I turn the key the solenoid just clicks once but nothing else happens! The lights dim a tiny bit, but not as much as when the car starts normally.

What is happening here!?? I learned a long time ago that my car hates new parts because it just has its own way of doing things, I can respect that it doesn't like change, but this is stupid.

Thank you for reading my troubles.

 

[Invectivus]

Ground issue? I'd go through all the connections, and wire brush them clean.

Maybe disconnect the battery and measure resistance in the connections.

 

[bubba22349]

Did you test the condistion of the battery?

 

[1968 Falcon]

I did, it was putting out about 12.6 volts, so pretty normal. I've used that battery under much harder conditions before and it had never gone dead. Do you think it could be a connection issue, just made more confusing by the fact that the new starter was legitimately just bad?

 

[bubba22349]

You might want to put a trickle charger on it for awhile a fully charged battery should be 13.4 -13.8 or 2.3 volts per cell x 6. Dirt or crud on the top of a battery it can drop the voltage some too.

Do you think it could be a connection issue, just made more confusing by the fact that the new starter was legitimately just bad?

Yes that would be the place to start clean all the connections from the battery back. Next check the resistance of the cable from starter sol. to starter, look for cracks in insul. corrosion etc. The grounds from engine to body etc. Than check the wires from and the condition of the ignition switch, if it’s still the org. and switch has loose sloppy feel than is a good chance it's worn out.

 

[1968 Falcon]

Thank you so much to everyone that helped! I bought a new battery and filed all the contacts, now it starts up perfectly again.

 

[bubba22349]

Glad you got it going

 

[1968 Falcon]

Okay, it stopped working again. But I'm pretty sure its the same thing, I'll just go through all the connections again more thoroughly. Maybe I'll end up replacing some wires, the one from the solenoid to the starter does have some splits in the rubber and corrosion. I feel like I know what I'm doing now though.

Never celebrate too soon! :nono:

 

[Invectivus]

Do you have a ground wire from the block to the chassis? A lot of intermittent electrical issues are due to isolated grounds, usually between the block and the chassis where the jumper wire had been removed over time.