Jumper cables to another cranked car

 

I believe Dana means 'Engine starts'.

The moon is on its last full moon phase and the stars are in alignment...

If jumping starts the engine as normal, then I would suggest looking at battery connections, alternator connections, and cleaning them, Don't forget the starter solenoid connectons.
If good, then swap batteries with another daily driver.
You can always hook up a test light to the suspect circuit for checking power to the circuit when commanded.
Lights easier to see then reading a meter.

 

id say starter or battery, have starter tested. most times the solonoid goes and they just click but when the starter fails it can draw allot of amps to make it work.

 

Gonna be hard to get that starter off but I need to get to the bottom of it soon. We'll try to use jumper cables first. If it cranks then it's not starter. Correct? Or would you rather try another battery

 

if the battery is good and you still have to jump start it then i would say the starter is weak and ready to go. the windings on the armature or the field can partially fail and cause this. failing bushings can also cause a partial short that can do it as well.

 

I don't know how much swinging room you have at the wiring connections on the starter. But if it were my car, I would jump across the "s" terminal and the battery terminal on the starter with a screwdriver, and see if the starter works. Doing that will totally tell you whether you have a starter problem, or a wiring problem.

 

been so long that ive had regular exhaust that i dont recall if i had to drop the exhaust or not, i think i did have to unhook from manifolds and drop it down. on the v6 i think you can twist it just right and get it out.

 

From what I recall the last time I saw under there, there was some crazy welding work on exhaust when cat was removed.

 

With the 3800 I had to drop the Y pipe to remove the starter.

Jumping the car does not prove the starter is good. Depending on how the starter fails it can just keep needing more amps. At some point even a recharged battery can no longer start the motor. If you combine a good battery and the power from a running car it may be enough to start it. Its still a bad starter. As a general rule the starter will only work a few time this way. The added amps tend to melt the inside of the starter.

Also if the starter works with the jumper cables it could also mean the cables have a lot of resistance in them and the extra amps help it start.

A draw test would tell you the condition of the starter. If you are drawing more than 200 Amps when starting it most likely the starter (there is a spec that should be looked up) if it drawing less the then 200 you need to check the cable and connections.

 

Swapped batteries from a daily driver and wont crank. Jumped it from another car my husband drives daily and it wouldn't crank. It sounded the same both ways. I watched while he tried to crank it and the belt turns. I think that might be what we're hearing. It's as if the starter isn't engaging at all and motor isn't turning at all. Now that first time Monday morning, it turned over but wouldn't start.