Over the last week or so, the Camaro has been having trouble starting. It's a '78 with stock 350. I've also noticed that when the car is driven, turned off and then when I try to re-start it has a hard time turning over. More recently however, the car will not start. Brand new battery installed a month ago. It appears as if there is still plenty of power (all accessories work fine) but there's not enough power to turn it over and start? I jumped the car yesterday and it started, voltage meter reads good, I drove to the store and left the car running to be safe and when I got home and turned it off it would not restart. Alternator maybe? Any insight would be appreciated. I just want to drive the car as is until the end of summer and then it's getting completely re-done over the winter.

 

Check the battery voltage with a voltmeter while all accessories and lights are on. With the engine idling the voltage should hold to at least 12 Volt. With the engine revving around 2000 RPM the voltage should be between 13.5 to 14 Volt (depending on the voltmeter) If voltage holds the alternator is OK, if not the alternator ore the battery have problems. Make sure all battery and ground cables are in good condition and all connections clean and tight. Considering the age of the car, corrosion can become a major problem.

 

With the car running (had to jump it with a Ford!) and engine at idle with no accessories on it's reading almost 14 volts. With accessories on at idle it reads about 12.7. At 2000 rpm's there is not much change in voltage. Something's up, the battery is almost brand new but when I went out to work on it today, it was completely dead. First time for that. After I turn the car off and wait 5 minutes, it's dead again...

 

From what you are telling me, the alternator seems to be OK. There may be something that is draining the battery. Try disconnecting the ground cable from the battery post and see if it is holding the charge. Also, after being run down so many times the battery is now weak.

 

I'm sure there is a better way but. Pull the ground cable off the battery. Place a Digital VOM (volt meter) in line. Set it to read mA. There should be a small draw from the radio if its modern or the clock if it has one. If there is a draw of 500 mA I'd say there's a short drawing power. Now go through the fuses one by one until the draw goes away. Thats the circuit its on.

I'm just a student though, I'm sure the teacher will chime in with a quicker way.

 

Oh yeah, I took speaker wire (what ever length you'll need) with a large eyelet on one end for the battery. Bolted one to the battery, sandwiched the other in the cable. The other end was butt connectors. Put the leads from the meter in the butt connector. Then I could read my meter inside my truck.

 

I'll bet you have the ever-popular and much dreaded starter solenoid "heat soak" problem. Let me guess, your factory "ugly and unnecessary" tin heat shield has been removed from the starter too? The starter solenoid is getting overheated from engine heat, and it won't want to work on a hot restart till it has a chance to cool back down. And, if the car has headers, it makes the heat to the starter matter even worse. No starter heat shield? Put one back on, or get one of those nifty aftermarket heat shield blankets for it.

 

A good test is to drive it until it gets very warmed up, then get it to your house and shut it off. If you can't restart it, then try a jump from another car. If it starts with a jump it's not the starter; if it doesn't then you've confirmed it's a starter issue.
Cars that start good cold, but not when heated up often are as Camaro 69 said, subjects of heat on a starter. I've seen people replace starters and have the problem go away, only to return shortly when heat takes it's toll on them too. A starter blanket is cheap insurance, and might cure the problem if it's heat related.

 

Appreciate all the tips. I pulled the ground off the battery and put a test light on the cable and touched the terminal and it glows like a beacon. I was told if it lights up there is a draw somewhere. I'll start pulling fuses and see what's up. Can a battery draw just "appear" like this? I haven't really done anything to any wiring except pull a bunch of cut wires out from under the dash that weren't attached to anything (sure they were on aftermarket guages at some point) and fix the headlight. Hope I can get this figured out soon as it's driving me crazy!

Also, doesn't look like there's a heat shield on the starter. Not something I did, and there's stock manifolds, no headers. I'll look into the starter blankets, thanks for the advice.

 

Okay, I'm not an ignorant person but maybe I'm doing something really dumb. I had the test light clip on the negative battery cable which is off the battery and touched the tip of the light to the negative post and the light turns on. I pulled every fuse in the panel out twice and the light stayed on? I've gotta be doing something wrong....