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Re: Won't Start

To: RayKReese@aol.com, Tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Won't Start
From: Bob Palmer <rpalmer@ames.ucsd.edu>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 10:12:46 -0700
Ray,

Poor grounding is very often the cause of electrical problems. I would 
check the battery ground cable first; make sure it's got a good connection 
to the chassis. If you have a voltmeter, it can help you isolate the 
problem.  Measure the voltage between the positive and negative battery 
terminals and then see what it does when you hit the starter. It should 
start out at about 13.2V and drop to maybe 8-10V when you activate the 
starter. If it doesn't drop much, then you have a bad connection somewhere 
in the circuit. On the other hand, if it drops a lot more than this, then 
the battery itself is bad (high internal resistance). Assuming the battery 
looks good, then start hunting for where the high resistance connection is 
in the circuit by checking voltages when you hit the starter. I won't give 
you a detailed procedure, but the idea is that the voltage should be about 
the same across the battery terminals and across the starter if the rest of 
the circuit has negligible resistance. If the ground strap to the motor is 
bad, then you would measure a voltage between the motor and the chassis 
while the starter is activated. If this is the case, you will probably 
notice that the hydraulic clutch line is getting hot. Could be the problem 
is the solenoid switch to starter cable, either itself  or the connections. 
Again, check the voltage at the solenoid versus at the starter terminal.

>Man, you guys are rough! Just when I thought it would be cool to paint my
>Panasports bright yellow to contrast my black Tiger. Can I keep my Moon Eyes
>decal? I guess those Purple Horney mufflers that Jeg's sells are right out!

On second thought, maybe your car should stay in the garage. ;-)

Good luck,

Bob

At 12:21 PM 7/29/99 -0400, RayKReese@aol.com wrote:
>Lister's: I'm having car trouble this morning with the Tiger. Actually, the
>last couple of days it has been acting as though the (new) Alternator wasn't
>charging. I've kept the battery charger on at night, but this morning it
>would just click and the fuel pump sounds odd. According to the battery
>charger, it has a full charge. All of my connections seem to be clean and
>tight and there was no corrosion beneath the battery terminals. What do you
>think? Starter silinoid? Starter? Voltage regulator? Help, I'm stuck at home!
>
>Ray
>B9473174

Robert L. Palmer
UCSD, Dept. of AMES
619-822-1037 (o)
760-599-9927 (h)
rpalmer@ucsd.edu
rpalmer@cts.com

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