phatman5000
First Gear
Hello all! I hate to introduce myself, having never contributed before, by asking a technical problem... But I guess a fair few on here started off that way!
What would make bold heads fizz and crackle red-hot while I'm turning the engine over?
My outrageously modified '83 90 2.5 N/A ("Arnold") is due a return to the road. It got parked up around 2 years ago when a burst coolant pipe caused it to overheat, and life (and a reliable Alfa Romeo...
) just got in the way. Before the pipe burst, it had gradually grown into an increasingly 'grumpy' starter, often requiring upwards of 15 seconds turning over (after 30 seconds of heater plugs) before finding life on the battery's last breath (a brand new 120Ah Varta monster).
Towards the latter end of this 'growth', I started to smell electrical burning each time I started it. I soon narrowed this down to a burning bolt head on the driver's sill (visible from inside the truck if you just look down to the right with the door open), and smoke was coming out of the passenger side bottom corner of the windscreen, by the windscreen hinge bolt. The burning stopped as soon as the starter disengaged, at which point the truck is either running or the battery is flat...
Now that I'm back working on the truck, about a week ago I turned it over, which it managed for 10 seconds on the starter before slowing to a stop. I charged the battery fully, and it's outputting 12.2V. Now all I get when I turn the key is a single click. I've tried it with an additional, brand new battery. It's almost as though the engine has ground to a halt.
I did manage to get it to turn 1/2 rotation today with a jump lead connecting the negative battery terminal to the body of the starter and another jump lead poking the solenoid +ve terminal - but since then, just clicks.
So I'd like to pick the minds of you fine chaps - do you know what would cause this? Particularly the burning bits - the click concerns me less, but any ideas there would be welcome. The -ve connection from the battery to chassis is a little frayed at the eye terminal, by the way (roughly 20%), though I would assume connecting the -ve terminal directly to the starter body as I have done would work around this as an issue.
Or, would you agree with my assumption that it's old and moody and sorely in need of a new engine & rewiring the big stuff?
What would make bold heads fizz and crackle red-hot while I'm turning the engine over?
My outrageously modified '83 90 2.5 N/A ("Arnold") is due a return to the road. It got parked up around 2 years ago when a burst coolant pipe caused it to overheat, and life (and a reliable Alfa Romeo...
) just got in the way. Before the pipe burst, it had gradually grown into an increasingly 'grumpy' starter, often requiring upwards of 15 seconds turning over (after 30 seconds of heater plugs) before finding life on the battery's last breath (a brand new 120Ah Varta monster).Towards the latter end of this 'growth', I started to smell electrical burning each time I started it. I soon narrowed this down to a burning bolt head on the driver's sill (visible from inside the truck if you just look down to the right with the door open), and smoke was coming out of the passenger side bottom corner of the windscreen, by the windscreen hinge bolt. The burning stopped as soon as the starter disengaged, at which point the truck is either running or the battery is flat...
Now that I'm back working on the truck, about a week ago I turned it over, which it managed for 10 seconds on the starter before slowing to a stop. I charged the battery fully, and it's outputting 12.2V. Now all I get when I turn the key is a single click. I've tried it with an additional, brand new battery. It's almost as though the engine has ground to a halt.
I did manage to get it to turn 1/2 rotation today with a jump lead connecting the negative battery terminal to the body of the starter and another jump lead poking the solenoid +ve terminal - but since then, just clicks.
So I'd like to pick the minds of you fine chaps - do you know what would cause this? Particularly the burning bits - the click concerns me less, but any ideas there would be welcome. The -ve connection from the battery to chassis is a little frayed at the eye terminal, by the way (roughly 20%), though I would assume connecting the -ve terminal directly to the starter body as I have done would work around this as an issue.
Or, would you agree with my assumption that it's old and moody and sorely in need of a new engine & rewiring the big stuff?
