Re: GTV6 Cold Starting Puzzle

["skippatnode" <skippatnode@domain.elided>]

John,
Clean the battery terminals and try again.  Don't just look at them, take them
off and clean them.
Check the battery voltage at the battery terminals while cranking.  10V or
better--bad connection (usually dirty battery terminals) or bad starter.  Less
than 10V (like 0 to 3V)--bad battery (probably a dead cell).
Check the battery voltage at the battery terminals with engine running.  13.5
to 14.5V--charging system OK.
I'll bet on either dirty terminals or more probably since the charger brings
it alive and there are no problems until the next day, that the battery has a
cell going bad.

Skip
67 Duetto
Norfolk Va


Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 09:03:50 -0500
From: John Brase <jbrase@domain.elided>
Subject: GTV6 Cold Starting Puzzle

>I've got a puzzling cold weather starting problem with my '84 GTV6.

Whenever the ambient temp is in the 20's or below and the car has set
overnight it acts like a dead battery on startup.  The starter engages
but it will only roll the engine over slowly and usually won't roll
through a compression stroke.  At that point I can hear some relays
click presumably from a total loss of power and even the radio will
loose its memory.  The battery is only a few months old. The other day
when the temp was in single digits I checked the battery prior to trying
to start the thing and it showed 12.3 volts across the terminals.
 Certainly seems sufficient.  And, if I hook up the charger for as
little as four or five minutes it will crank like a banshee and fire
right up.  Even with 20w50 in the case.  I thought, "OK, I need to wake
up the electrons before trying to crank it."  So I tried the old trick
of turning on the lights for 30 seconds or so to get everything
"flowing."  That didn't help at all.  I have not checked the voltage at
the starter because I'd probably have to lay in the snow to do it.  And,
I'm not sure what good that would do anyway.  Suppose, for example, I
get 12+ volts across the terminals and a lot less at the starter end of
the cable, what would that tell me?

Anybody got any ideas?  (Other than reminding me that I'm not supposed
to drive a GTV6 in winter in the first place.)

John
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