7/31/00 Monday
Tom; thanks a bunch for replying, -and for your time.
I know you have to be real busy readying for Bonneville….
I had hoped Boogie Woogie "was better" after the new battery, new starter,
et al, and the trickle charge….. But alas on Friday noon as I shut it off
for the first time on the first leg of my weekend trip (at full a 190
degree temp) in my mothers driveway (-and of course, away from most of my
tools…) anyway, five minutes later, I went to leave, and upon turning the
key, she just grunted….. Oh man….
So after thinking a bit about what you had already posted me, ( and of
course before I had received this answer post ) I decided that the first
course of action was to really SEE if I had a good ground. I've carrying
a voltmeter/ohmmeter tester with me now, so out it came…I started at the
battery in the trunk to the actual wire in the cable and performed a
continuity test: all OK!
Then I checked from the battery to the frame under the battery; OK.
Then, using a scrounged piece of romex wire I found in Mom's basement, ( to
extend the reach of the test lead ) I moved forward all the way to the
second ground strap that I have between the Left front motor mount bolt to
steering box bolt: OK all the way to that too. Not a bit of voltage drop
whatsoever.
Then I checked right at the starter case to the engine block: also OK…
So now, I KNEW my ground system was 100% from battery all the way to
starter case….. -Tried starting the durn thing again,-just for the hell
of it, And what do ya' know; -she starts NORMAL.
Spins right over like nobody's biznezz…..Whhhombah!
Go figure. Must be ghosts….
So after pondering that a bit I decide to go off on the planned trip to the
"Syracuse Nationals" street rod event 100 miles north…. figuring that
"I' m bad, I can fix anything" I drove on about an hour and got to thinking
about the positive side of the starting circuit…… remembered that I have
one of those all metal, heavy duty, master shutoff switches wired in the
positive line about a foot from the battery, -and that I had'nt even looked
at it since putting the car together, four years, 16,000 miles, and a trip
to the salt ago…….
Hummmmmm…. I wonderrrrr……
found a Parts Plus auto parts store along my route in a small town and
decided to shut'er on down, and went on in to buy some 14 gauge wire, and
alligator clips to make a nice test lead with, -a 12" battery cable (with
two flat ends) in case I need to jump the terminals on the shut off switch,
and at the last minute , some new flexible jumper cables too -"just in case"
….came out, figured I'd probably end up fixing it right there 'cause ya'
just KNOW "it ain't a-gunna" start, and what'da ya' know? She again
starts normally…. Whoooombah!
So off we go on down the road to Syracuse…. All weekend long she
started,….like a good girl -but occasionally she'd grunt, yet start, in
protest.
I still have'nt checked the master shut off as I must remove, or move, the
tailpipes, and rear roll pan, and sure did'nt want to do that on the trip.
I will do that this week though, and see if I can see anything -and/or
jump the terminals, or perhaps eliminate the thing out of the system
-though I hate to as it serves as peace of mind for me when the car is
parked because it's easy to "kill" the electrics disabling the car
-'course I also have a hidden master inline fuel shut off, and a secret
ignition circuit shut off that I use as well. Somebody wants to steal ol'
Boogie Woogie, They're gonna hafta work for it!
-That or have a rollback truck…. Huh boys?
So anyway, the jury's till out on the starting problems….-but we'll keep
looking and let you all know what we've found -for everyone's future
reference OK ?
Tom, I will try your recommendations and procedure on checking the
cranking voltage, though I will be cautious and hesitant as I've never done
it before and "electrics" baffle me at times!
Again a special thanks to you for clearing up my confusion.
Doug Anderson 7/31/00
BTW: "the Syracuse Nationals" had about 4,500 cars…..
-About a dozen, were HOT RODS.
Had fun talking with THOSE guys though… so it was a success in that regard,
though it was HOT, MUGGY, and awful awful CROWDED….I broke out in a rash;too
many "Street RodZ" all at one exposure.
Street Rodders sure are a different crowd, with different priorities, than
Racers, and HOT Rodders….
Thank you, but no thank you.
From: "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
Reply-To: "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
To: Doug Anderson <boogiewoogie12@hotmail.com>
CC: lsr_man@yahoo.com, land-speed@autox.team.net, DancinDye@aol.com,
tinshed@ozemail.com.au, jgfiitzhu@providentbankmd.com,
cbailey@sprise.com, beanracers@aol.com, av8ford@volcano.net,
salt@ivec.net, hastingsv@aol.com, jungbec@aol.com,
whodaky@sympac.com.au, hotrodprod@pdt.net, lsaltsman@telenet.net,
saltsix@earthlink.net, SPLHAUGINC@aol.com, squarerollbars@yahoo.com,
pvincent@poci.amis.com, kch@digisys.net
Subject: Re: Murphy's law, and Boogie Woogie's malady....THANKS Fellas!
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 17:22:02 -0700
Doug,
What you are doing with the voltmeter is reading the voltage difference
between two points. In other words how much voltage is used up to
overcome the resistance in the circuit. Kind of like reading the water
pressure at each end of a garden hose. If you hook the voltmeter to the
battery, (positive lead to positive post and negative lead to negative
post), it will read battery voltage, roughly 12.6 volts with no load,
could be higher if the engine was just shut down because the charging
system is set to produce 13.5 to over 14 volts. With the voltmeter still
connected to the battery the reading while cranking will be
approximately 10 to 10.5 volts on a good system. That is how much
voltage the battery can produce with the starter operating. The reading
is also the voltage drop through the entire circuit.
By moving the negative lead back toward the positive side of the
circuit, from battery negative to the engine block, to the starter, to
the positive connection on the starter, to the battery post on the
solenoid, etc. a step at a time. With each move, part of the circuit is
eliminated from the voltmeter's reading and the voltage reading will be
reduced with each step back toward the positive post. Of course, the
biggest change will come when the lead moves to the positive side of the
starter, because the starter motor is eliminated from the reading.
I don't know how much you understand about electrical circuits, so I
have used lots of words to explain. The basic message is, to measure
voltage of a circuit the meter is connected in parallel, positive to
positive and negative to negative. An ammeter is hook up in series,
inside the circuit, all current used is passed through the meter (unless
an amp clamp is used, which measures amperage by sensing the magnetic
field created around the circuit as current passes through). Volt drop
is measured by connecting to the source and moving the other lead down
the same side of the circuit, further and further from the source.
If I could draw pictures with this thang it would be lots simpler to
explain. You really can;t hurt the voltmeter though unless you try to
run current through it.
Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/CC
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