Help!!!!!
 

I went testing tonight didn't go well. Here is what it's doing now. I say now because this season has been a disaster. Car started fine when I loaded it yesterday in trailer. Get to track starts ok. Tech go straight to staging lanes. Car would barely start. Made the run anyway(should have just went back to trailer) car was a dog no power so I shut it off. I'm assuming it had no power because there wasn't enough juice to power the MSD box properly.Car would not not re start battery dead. Get it back to trailer and this is what I tried to no avail.

1. Tried my spare 16v battery
2. Disconnected cables from master cutoff to rule that out
3. Disconnected cables from remote starter solenoid to rule that out.

None of that worked so I put the charger on it and it started right up. I loaded it in trailer and shut it off. Tried to restart it and it would barely turn the motor over and would not start. I will try a third battery in the morning but 2 16v battery taking a crap at the same time seems unlikely to me. Any suggestions on something else to look for?

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Try another starter, Ed. They will kill any battery sometimes.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Bad Ground?

Re: Help!!!!!
 

I would do a conventional cranking voltage amperage draw test as well as a battery load test (disconnect the battery from the vehicle cables when performing the load test and be sure to get the normal specs from the specific starter and battery manufacturer !!!) Also do a static draw test to make sure you don't have a static drain. Those two should identify the problem area if it is in the battery/cable/starter chain. Also don't overlook an internal broken battery post connection though with two batteries that's probably not the problem. There's gotta be easy access to a VAT 40 type tester.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Ed, I would be looking for a drain on the battery. If it's this bad you should be able to pull the ground cable, charge the battery, then touch the ground cable to the negative post on the battery (with the cut-off switch=on) and see sparks. Then all you can do is disconnect things until the sparks stop. That will, of course, be the culprit. Is everything on the car powered by the long positive cable?

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Make sure you check you battery charger.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Hopefully the starter but could be a spun bearing.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Ok this morning I took the battery out of my pickup and put it in the car. It fired right up. I then tried both of my 16v turbo start batteries in my pickup. Dead won't roll over my pickup. Something has to be wrong to kill two 16v batteries. I don't have another starter. I will do the test that were recommended on monday. I don't have a tester. What's really confusing is when you put the charger on the turbo start batteries they look to charge normal but when you try to start the car their dead.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Take a regular 12v battery hook it up to the 16 volt put the charger on the 12 volt battery charge the 12v with it hooked to the 16 bring it up to a full chg then disconnect it and put your 16 charger on bring them up to a full charge.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

My brother had a simular issue last year at Indy. The problem was a wire from the charging "lugs" on the rear of the car to the battery. Check for continuity of the + pos and - neg circuit from the lug to the same post on the battery with an ohm meter. Don Jackson

Re: Help!!!!!
 

You need to load test the battery. It may show full voltage but as soon as you put a load on it will drop to nothing if it's toast. Charge it up then turn on your headlights or some other draw and watch the voltage. A good battery wil only drop a little then stabalize. A bad one will go to zero or close to it.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Are you running an alternator that requires a pos voltage signal before it starts putting out power? If so, and if that wire is disconnected, burnt, broken, etc., every battery you put in the car will die. Hope this helps.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

How old are these batt.

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Damn Ed, I don't know were you found that Monkey on you back but you need to get rid of it.

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Alan its not a monkey its a GORILLA. This car hasn't made one lap under power this season. Its been one thing after another. Sorry about your trans. Are you guys going to run the sportsman race end of May in San Antonio?

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Voltage and amperage are two different types of values. think of it as voltage is the pressure of water in a pipe (PSI) and amperage is a measure of the pipe's flow capability. (volume) The static unloaded battery voltage may test fine (don't forget that a fully charged 12 volt battery for example should read 13 and change volts) but a bad battery will have no reserve current power and fail a load test. A quick and dirty test is to check the battery voltage before and during cranking. If the cranking voltage drops more than static battery voltage by more than 3 or 4 volts or after a 3 - 5 second crank has low or insufficient amperage reserve. Now a bad starter, bad cable connection or bad battery can cause the same result but the earlier posted tests will positively isolate the problem. BTW, be sure to check your battery charger for adequate output and proper cutoff level before you start a series of other tests! Frankly your scenario as posted sure points towards a bad charger or 2 bad batteries but testing will eliminate any guesswork. What is the voltage reading on a static battery?
I am not advocating a NASA type approach out of the gate but I have seen competitive race cars be dogged for a half a season chasing an electrical gremlin (intermittent are the worst!!) that should have been found much earlier by using standard test procedures. Just start with the simple stuff first then move on to the complicated areas until you find your problem.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Well it was both my batteries. The new one (6 months old) is bad because I found the the negative post turns inside the battery when you tighten the cable. The old one has sat in my trailer for awhile im guessing a year. My stepdad told me to put it on trickle charge overnight for 8 to 10 hours. He said it probably had sulfer buildup on the plates??? Anyway I did that and its a miracle it starts the car right up. I left it in the car for 7 hours as of now and it still starts right up. I'm ordering a new one tommorow anyway. I think im going to start running two batteries. I have only been running one. Thanks for all the advice. I wish I would have stuck to my plan and took this year off. Nothing has gone right all year.

Re: Help!!!!!
 

Ed-

What brand of batteries do you have? I had a turbostart that did the same as yours. Bickel sent me a brand new one because of the posts turn when tightening the bolt. Might want to contact who you got it from. I can tell you how to check which version you have if it is a turbostart. Call me at 417-437-1669 if you want.