Electrical?

[2bit]

OK, '94 pathfinder.

Won't start, checked the volts at the battery, 6-7. So I hook up the cables to my Bronco. The bat now reads about 13. Perfect right? I turn the key, nothing but clicks, I check the volts again and back down to 6-7 while still connected to my running Bronco. What gives?

[sammyb33]

bad battery. throw a new battery (or known working battery) into the truck and i bet she will fire up.

[GrimGreg]

Check your terminals are clean, and that your jumper cables are making a good connection on both ends.

[2bit]

Well, you see, this is a new battery. This problem happened back in April when the truck was given to me and I diagnosed it as a bad battery. Bought a new one and it's worked ever since...till now. AHHHH, I lent my truck to my step father and he left my Hella's on and killed it. Would one time killing the battery destroy it?

Edited August 26, 2008 by 2bit

[adamzan]

When I first replaced the battery for my 93, one cold winters night killed it. Turns out it was bad, returned it and it has spent many more cold days (3 months actually) in the cold just fine.

 

Just saying, even though it is new, it can still be bad. I see you live in canada, take the battery to canadian tire and they'll test it for ya.

Edited August 26, 2008 by redfinder

[2bit]

Yeah I live in Tofino. Small ass town with no repair shops or chain stores. It's all on me to fix er. I'll buy a new battery and throw it in. Thanks for the input guys

[adamzan]

You sure there is no place that'll test it? Like where you bought it from. Most batteries have decent warranties on them. Don't want to waste money! Oh ya make sure you get the biggest battery (most cranking amps) that will fit. The 500cca amp one I had in my 93 temporarily could barely crank it over even if it was 5 degrees out.

[GrimGreg]

Well the fact that it read low while hooked up to the other battery is what makes it sound like a bad connection. If the reading was that low with a good connection, the other battery was at that low voltage also.

 

Try this first; hook it up to the Bronco and let it run for about five-ten minutes, then try starting the Pathfinder.

[2bit]

Hooked it back up last night to the Bronco for @!*%s and giggles and it fired right up! So I got it off the street and in my driveway. This morning I hooked it up and ran the Bronco for a good 10 mins while I got ready for work. Came out and tried to start, NOTHING. Not even the old click click. I don't have much time after work to play with it so this weekend I'm going in balls deep to figure this @!*% out.

[GrimGreg]

Seriously sounds like a bad connection somewhere.

[2bit]

Ok, besides the battery being dead all it does is click now when I try to start. I hooked it up and made sure it read about 12.5 so the connection is clean (I left it hooked up with my multimeter on). Nothing but a hole pile of fast clicks. Now when this happened with my F150 I replaced the starter solenoid and starter and it's all good. Same deal on this truck do you figure? Or still maybe a bad connection somewhere? The volts jump to about 5 when I try to turn it over, is that normal?

[k9sar]

no. not normal.

 

you can read 12V with no load but have virtually nothing when you apply load. Check your fusable link at the pos post of the battery.

 

Troubleshooting a starter circuit is fairly easy as long as you do it systematically and understand how a starter works.

 

The starter motor itself has a constant 12V supply from a big wire and is grounded through the housing and mounting bolts.

The solenoid is grounded to the starter and takes it's 12V from a 'trigger' wire that comes from the ignition system. Turn the key to opn and get 12V (hopefully)

The 12V to the solenoid does 2 things... it throws a lever which drives the start gear into the housing to engage with the flywheel AND it makes the connection between the constant hot and the windings on the starter motor.

bench testing a starter can be done by running ground to the starter case, run hot to the lug on the starter then touching a jumper from the hot supply (or the lug) to the port on the solenoid.

If you are just testing the solenoid, leave the hot off of the starter lug and just throw hot to the solenoid (click, gear extension but no spinning of the motor). Since it is very difficult to test the starter motor only, determination of it's well-being is made by checking the entire unit then just the solenoid. If the unit is not working but the solenoid is, the problem is in the starter motor itself and you should go look for my other posts which talk about how to clean/rebuild one.

Anyway... If you assume a good battery and are not getting good strong 12V (or so) on the starter when you throw a load on it (like starting it), you have a bad connection somewhere between the battery and the starter post.

If you are not getting good 12V (or so) on the trigger plug when you turn the key, there is a bad connection in the ignition circuit and you should look for my previous posts that discuss bypassing all that crap and jumpering from the ignition switch to the solenoid.

If you are getting 12V on the plug, try putting a jumper cable from the plug to the solenoid. This wil let you get at the voltage going into the solenoid. 12 is good... much less is bad... if it cranks in this configuration, you have a bad connection of your plug to the solenoid (it happens with oil drippage etc). This is what the problem was with my first starter failure.

 

rapid little clicks are a sign of lack of power but I forget exactly what causes the rapid clicking.

 

Good luck

 

systematic test is the key to success.