Sluggish starter
 

So my battery reads 6.3 volts, but when I hit starter it barely turns over the engine, acting as if the battery is dead, where should I look for a problem? Battery, ground connections??????

Re: Sluggish starter
 

You'll want to make sure you have a very good ground for the starter. Too much paint can 'kill' the grounding. I went ahead and grounded the battery directly to one of the starter attachment bolts, and made sure the battery-to-flywheel case had plenty of steel/steel contact.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

How old is the battery? Same happened to me a while back battery showed good but, when trying to start battery went to dead!! Went to NAPA got a new one and all has been good Vern!!

Re: Sluggish starter
 

First off, get a decent quality voltmeter and put it across the battery, check the voltage drop there when running starter. If voltage drops a lot, then its either a starter pulling too much current or a weak battery. If voltage stays relatively stable there, then put the meter from the ground post of the battery to chassis, you should get only a couple tenths drop there with starter running. Same thing when checking from power post to starter battery terminal, should be very little voltage when cranking. If you get much voltage drop, you have a bad connection or a bad cable. One thing to remember, lots of people will tell you to get rid of the 6 volt and convert to 12V. Problems show up sooner in 6 volt, but if everything is in good shape it will turn over the engine just fine.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

Agree with Gary, had same issues, more than a couple of normal starts and battery was dead. Not sure exactly how old battery was. Changed to 6 volt Optima. No more issues.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

Also noticed when I started the car after sitting several weeks my horn barely spun after running engine about five minutes the horn sounded great.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

Gary, got this at tractor supply bout 2 years ago, but not run much, maybe dozen starts per year.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

I agree with Eagle but would add to measure the voltage at the starter when the starter is running. That will rule out any problems with the cables and battery but not the starter switch. To test the switch you can jump to the contact on top of the starter with the cable. Be careful that you don't jump to ground somewhere. If all that fails to find any faults then you probably need to take the starter out and do some work on it. Start by cleaning the commutator with some solvent and check the brush springs.


Get a good quality desulfating battery maintainer to keep the battery in good condition when the car is not being driven frequently.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

Is you battery cable going to the starter a small 12v cable.? If so use the correct fat 6v cable. Makes a big difference.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

Do a load test on the battery.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

Well I purchased 3 batteries from Sebos after they changed brands and all 3 were bad! Had them do a load test and all failed! So went to NAPA all good now!! But could be other things to! Ive had 6 volt batteries go for nine years by putting a maintainer on them once a month! If not driven a lot..

Re: Sluggish starter
 

When the drive end bushing wears a bit the armature can rub on the field shoes, which will make it drag. The commutator end bushing rarely wears enough to be changed. The commutator should NOT be undercut on starters. The heavy springs and copper brushes keep the insulating material worn away.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

That may be the problem, hooked up the charger for less than a minute, charger read full charge, unhooked charger and starter spun as it should. So,, get good battery and use maintainer in the future.

Re: Sluggish starter
 

A few years ago, I had a weak/slow starter and after reading Tom W. on auxiliary ground cables, decided to make one up and install it , not expecting much! I did and I was pretty surprised at how much of a difference it made. Not only did it spin and start faster, but the battery's reserve of voltage lasted longer. I wonder how this could be until I thought about it. Lessee, you ground to a frame rail and the ground current's path then goes through a riveted steel joint and eventually joins with the engine block. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot of power gets lost going through those rusty joints. Bypassing all that steel and rust with about two feet of copper line and a more direct ground connection makes a big difference. Furthermore,I had online friend, who had been an engineer for Boeing and his words to live by when doing electrical work were "Clean, bright, and tight!" And as long as it's only an auxiliary cable, you can use 12V cable. It's not the best, but It will do the job.
Terry

Re: Sluggish starter
 

My car did fine for a long time, but then was a bad starter. It turned out that my starter cable was smaller than a #4! A proper cable made all the difference.