I have been having trouble with my starter on my 73 Chevelle 350 bored over 30. The starter will work fine for a few days then just out of the blue, I try to start the car and I get a clunking noise. I have replaced the flywheel, I have replaced the starter with a high torque stock style starter, I have shim it several different ways, made sure I had the paper clip clearance between the flywheel and Benedix of the starter. I am using a 168 tooth flywheel and a 168 tooth starter. Can anyone help me out with my problem.
It does not sound like a starter or flywheel problem. You seem to have that all covered. I can’t see your car having the same problem with a new starter. You may just have a bad battery or wiring problem. Not enough current or voltage getting to the starter will cause this problem. It does not take much current to activate the solenoid, but it takes a lot to turn the starter motor. Load test the battery. Most of the large national parts stores or auto repair shops can do this for free, or a small fee. It just takes a minute. Just because it may not be very old, or has 12 volts with a meter, does not mean it is good. Batteries can do some weird things. Inspect the battery cables for being clean and tight on the battery. Follow the ground cable all the way down and make sure it is tight with no corrosion where it bolts to the block. Do the same for the positive cable. Follow it down to the starter. Look closely for any bulges in the length of the cable. This is a sign of corrosion inside the insulation. Be sure the starter to motor mating surface is clean. This is how the starter gets it’s ground. If all looks good, then you are going top have to do some more electrical testing. Test for voltage at the starter when it is acting up. Do a voltage drop test on the positive cable. If you find low voltage at the starter, you will have to work backward to find the cause of the problem.
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1 Comment on "Chevrolet Chevelle Won’t Start Sometimes"
I recently posted about a starter problem on my 73 chevelle I also replaced the battery with a 650cca and neg and positive battery wires,but the one thing that I didn’t check was the block surface the starter mounts too. I checked the positive to neg battery wires for connewity with a tester, as if there was shorted in the wiring system and there was not. I will check the starter mounting surface today and make sure I hit it with a wire brush to make sure its getting good connection. I didn’t know that is the grounding point was the surface the starter mounts too. I will post again after,I clean the surface. Thanks for the reply