Phils66dodgecoronet

When trying to start my car the motor doesn't want to turn over and sucks a lot of juice and the starter gets hot but the car don't start...I loose all lighting in the dash and I just put new big wires on it.... when I unbolt the flex plate from the torque converter the starter spins the torque converter freely and didn't really get warm...what might be the problem...I have a 66 dodge coronet 440 plz help!!!!!!!!!!!!

blue 68 gts

How are you unbolting the flex plate THEN starting the engine in the car????

Does the starter spin? Or does it do nothing and you hear the solenoid click?

Did you put new wiring from the battery to the starter? Is the hardware torqued down? Clamps on the battery not loose?

Phils66dodgecoronet

I unbolted the the flex plate from the torque converter and spun the starter and it spins freely but when I reattach the flex plate to the torque converter and spin the starter it struggles turning the motor over and the motor doesn't start.... also the starter gets really hot..... the starter labors when turning the motor over there are no wiring issues everything looks great the hardware is torqued down correctly and no the clamps on the battery are not loose

78D200

Can you rotate the motor by hand?

Phils66dodgecoronet

It is hard to turn the motor over by hand

blue 68 gts

If its hard to turn over, then something is seized in the drive train. (motor, trans, ect).
I still don't understand how you're unbolting the flex plate with everything attached and in the car...

440roadrunner

There are a LOT if "ifs" here

You say the engine is "hard to turn over by hand."

What exactly does this mean? If you use a ratchet/ breaker bar on the front crank bolt, with the plugs out, you should be able to turn the engine with some difficulty with one hand, on a normal 1/2" drive ratchet.

Have the battery load tested.

How are the battery cables, what gauge, where did they come from?

Where is the battery ground hooked up?

Is the battery in it's normal location or in the trunk?

Might be a bad starter, itself.

78D200

If you remove the starter and the inspection plate, you can usually get a wrench up in there and remove the bolts.

78D200

Going along with this, whatever size your power cable? Is your negative should be the same size if not one size larger? What is the wire being used? How many strands is it?

It might also help to install a few extra ground cables from the negative terminal on the battery to 1) a mounting bolt for the starter, 2) a bolt to the engine block itself and 3) to a cylinder head with a jump connected to the other one. This will help the starter turn over and allow your spark plugs to fire with as much voltage as they can.

blue 68 gts

From my experience its nearly dead impossible to do that.. motor or trans has to come out... or the trans has to slide back enough to slide the converter back enough....

And those bolts should be REALLY difficult to remove with a wrench.. especially on your back...

Maybe im delusional.

440roadrunner

You guys need some different wrenches LOL. This is easy. You rotate the engine until you can get one of the bolts accessible, over to the side of the pan, and remove, then rotate the engine. This IS the way it's done. You NEVER pull an engine with the converter attached, unless you pull the engine / trans together. How is it that these bolts are more accessible with the engine/ trans OUT of the car?

Besides, this is non issue. If the starter spins the unhooked converter, then obviously the trans is not the problem.

blue 68 gts

I was thinking flex plate on the engine, not convverter bolts..............

Ive pulled engines.. btw...

Phils66dodgecoronet

I pull all the spark plugs out of the motor and the starters spins the motor over freely but once I put all the spark plugs back in and try to turn the motor over it struggles to spin the motor spark plugs are the correct size and are Brand New I also have extra ground cables from the negative terminal on the battery

fivepoint

Maybe I am missing something here. If the starter will spin the flexplate and engine with the torque converter disconnected, wouldn't the problem be somewhere behind the torque converter like the transmission. Did I read something wrong?

Phils66dodgecoronet

Ok you guys I am being a middle woman here....my boyfriend is having these problems with his car and I'm getting no info from him....this all started last year when the car wouldn't run after getting really hot...the starter was the problem and after we waited a while we could start the car up again ... So he bought a new starter and also wanted to add power steering....before adding the power steering there was a vibration coming from the rear axels when you reached 45+....so he just put the power steering in and now he can't get the car to run ....he used a ratchet to turn the motor up by hand and it spun but it took effort....whenhooking everything back up we tried starting the car....the motor seemed to really 'stutter' or struggle to start the lights in the dash would disappear altogether and the starter got hot to the touch where it burned....we just put new wiring in it and the battery wires are the right size... We even had it hooked up to a battery charger and it still didn't start...it has850 cranking ramps in it ....but it also has a sound system in .....and runs 12 volts ...the battery is in the trunk with a switch you can flick to turn it on and off.... I'm sorry that there's so many questions and no answers but I am as frustrated as you guys ....

440roadrunner

OK with the battery in the trunk there is GOBS of opportunity for low voltage to the starter

BIG thing is adequate grounds, because since the starter is the largest load on the battery, an normal front -mount battery is grounded to the ENGINE. Engines have a POOR ground to the body, so a trunk mount battery needs special attention.

First thing I'd do is rig a meter so one of you can run the key/ starter, while the other uses the meter.

Go back to the trunk, and stab one meter probe to a ground, say, fer instance, the trunk latch bolts on the BODY, not the trunk lid.

Stick the other probe on the front most connection you can get to before the battery cable leaves the trunk for the front, IE probably the disconnect switch.

With the starter engaged, you should see NO LESS than 10.5V, more is better.

Now go up and hook the meter to the engine block, and using a clip lead or whatever is necessary, hook the other meter probe to the big stud down on the starter. Hook this to the STUD, NOT the wire terminal hooked to it.

Again crank the engine, you should see 10V bare minimum, more is better.

Post back with readings, we'll try and go from there.

AND "New" parts do not mean "functional" parts. The replacement starter can still be defective, right out of the box.

bboogieart

Yep, you read it wrong. This is not a Chevy, the flex plate connects the torque converter to the motor but the ring gear is on the torque converter not the flex plate. Once disconected, the flex plate no longer turns, so niether does the motor, as it is no longer conected to the ring gear that the starter engages. Just the converter turns.

O.K. The heat tells you there is resistance in the wiring. Lights go out says the same. What kind of wires are you running from the trunk mount battery to the starter? Most use welding wire as it has fine strands and lots of them. There is more than likely to much resistance for such a long run. Using a battery charger will not give you more power to start a motor, unless it is made for this application, and has a start position. Try hooking up a battery to the starter under the hood, just to see if there is a difference. Also the CCA has no affect on the power of the battery it is just how many amps it can use below zero degrees. Meaning if it is below freezing out side it will take more amps to turn the motor over.

Did you build a high compression motor? This will make it harder to turn. I'm guessing this is why removing the plugs makes a difference. You say it turns over without the plugs in it, so it is just amps versus compression at this point.

Be patient we will get through this.