Electrical gremlins - no lights/no crank unless...

6 gearT444E · Jul 12, 2022

Waasheem said: ↑

Something to mention. Close to the battery terminals, sometimes acid will wick up and under the insulation. Sometimes it’ll create a pregnant spot on the cable. Under the insulation at that pregnant spot the inner cable strands can become severely corroded and brittle. It’s pretty obvious so if you have that you would have noticed by now.

Another test you could do is a starter voltage drop test at the battery terminals. Then move the meter positive lead to the starter and test again. If there’s a significant difference you’ve got more resistance in the cable than you should. I had one, the difference was like .8v less at the starter. It ate something like 4 starters in 3 years.

My approach to a problem like this is to eliminate possible causes. Sometimes I’ll start with the easiest cheapest possibility. Sometimes I’ll start with the most probable possibility. Depends on my mood and level of patience at the moment.
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yeah a small degradation is sometimes not enough to notice a difference in sound of the starter but enough to draw the amperage up to shorten the lifespan of the insulation of the windings due to the I2R losses. I usually start at the "most obvious to me" spots, and hope they are also the cheapest LOL.

WOODY2 · Jul 13, 2022

tirediron said: ↑

Hard to say; I'm suggesting that because: (1) It's easy; <5 minutes and requires only a DVOM; and (2) because the action effects the symptom. No start... remove cable... replace cable... start. It absolutely could be the ignition switch, or a host of other things, but I would start by verifying the cables.
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I concur, start diagnosing with the easy stuff first before throwing parts at it.

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Electrical gremlins - no lights/no crank unless...

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Electrical gremlins - no lights/no crank unless...

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