Levon Curington

I'm getting 9 volts to the starter but it's not turning over. Took starter to auto parts store. They hooked it up and it turned over fine. Starter wouldnt turn over even when being jumped off. Battery was a little dead when I checked voltage. Starter should have still activated under low voltage. Starter doesnt make a sound when key is turned over. All dash lights and electrical components seem to be working fine btw

Rit

iTrader: (3)

Ypur battery either needs to be charged, or replaced.

Levon Curington

Already purchased a new one. Starter wouldnt engage with jumper cables or with 9 volts. Which it should of both situations. At 9 volts I shouldve at least had a weak turn over, but nothing. I will put the original starter back on with new battery and see what happens but that should be no different than using jumper cables. Correct? The jumper cables are in good condition btw

Zerodrag

iTrader: (1)

Funny thing is whenever my starters start going bad on my Maxima, they either crank or don't crank at all. Sometimes they would start cranking strong after turning the key a few times.

Levon Curington

Once I seen voltage on the starter I assumed it was bad since the starter didn't do anything. I held my hand against it and nothing whatsoever. I take it to auto zone and dang it the thing turns right over on the 1st try. Very strong sounding.

Rit

iTrader: (3)

I stand by my earlier diagnosis. I do not believe that 9 volts is enough to turn over the starter motor.

Levon Curington

Can u explain why jumper cables didnt work

Zerodrag

iTrader: (1)

i had the exact thing happen in the the past with, i believe was, an autozone gold lifetime starter. It worked fine on their bench but stopped working on my second day. They replaced it with another one which ended up working for a few months. Maybe the connector was faulty on the first one... Who knows. But i do think their bench test probably send over 14v to test start them so it's hard to say it's a realistic test in all situations.

just my $0.02...

Rit

iTrader: (3)

One or both of your battery cables could either be bad, or loose, or crudded up.

Levon Curington

I was thinking the same thing. I was contemplating replacing the positive battery cable. It had corrosion all over it. The ground or negative is fine, with no corrosion and I get a good ground when I use my meter, so I think the ground cable is fine. My battery was going bad so it had corrosion all over the positive terminal

JvG

The very first thing you should do is to remove the crud from the inside of the battery cable teminals with sandpaper or a steel brush. Clean the battery posts till they are kinda shiny as well.

The crud acts like an electrical insulator. It might allow enough current to pass to light the dash lights, but not the headlights or the starter.

Some members also find corrosion on the other side of the negative cable. Check that out as well.

Do you still have the oem battery terminald, or is there one of this bolt on replacements. I had those fail several times on other cars.

A before and after photo of your battery terminals would be helpful.

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

If the battery is truly good, and you measure only 9 volts at the starter, you need to address this as your problem. Chances are the battery cable has corroded at the connector on the battery, more specifically, where the wire goes into the connector, not the connector clamping on the battery post.

To diagnose this, you can measure the voltage at the battery while you are trying to crank the engine over. If the battery is 12 volts and the starter only has 9 volts, then the cable is the problem. If the voltage at the battery is 12 volts and the starter is only 9 volts when you are not even trying to crank the engine, just go get a new battery cable.

Levon Curington

My battery was going bad so that's why I was reading 9 volts. I have a new battery now. I'm about to reinstall the starter and new battery and see what happens. All electrical components in the car including headlights were working fine with the old battery but it was going bad. I also cut off some kind off thing off the positive terminal 2 yrs ago. My car did this same exact thing b4 I cut this device off. I now have a mechanical type terminal with allen screws attaching the cables. New battery in the background, not hooked up yet cause I still have to put starter back n

JvG

Please take that terminal apart. Look for new oxidation and crud. I'm pretty sure it's there.
Clean the crud out. Auto parts stores sell small packets of anti corrosive jell.

Some members have a corroded ground where the negative cable attaches to the chassis and engine.
Please look into that. One test to confirm what im thinking...... please attach a jumper cable to a bolt on the engine. Like to a starter mounting bolt or somewhere else. Attach the other end to the negative terminal of the battery. The cars negative cable needs to be on the battery too of course.

Now try to start the car or take voltage readings.
If the car starts better, the cars negative cable has problems.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

Possible bad cells killing everything, I've had it happen before as well....