<VV> Battery Will Not Turn Starter

[FrankCB]

Ray,
     That's why you need to use a voltmeter to measure the voltage drop between the battery post and the starter terminal while you are trying to unsuccessfully activate the starter.  The voltmeter would have shown that most of the 12 volts was LOST before it ever got to the starter leaving not enough to make it work.  Even as little as 1/10 of an ohm resistance in the wiring or connection is enough to drop the 12 volts down to 2 volts when you're draining 100 amps.  That's why the other electrical stuff worked OK because it only drained something like 10 amps causing a voltage drop of only ONE volt.  Remember the formula says "voltage drop = current flow X resistance".
     Always carry a voltmeter in your Corvair to show you WHERE the electrical problem is located.  Once you know that, you have a much better chance of fixing it.
     Frank "sparky" Burkhard


In a message dated 11/17/09 18:41:59 Eastern Standard Time, scout1977 at hotmail.com writes:
One answer to the battery will not turn starter problem.  I recently had the same problem on my '64 vert.  It was embarrassing at the Chevy dealer when we were setting up our car display on October 2.  Have you ever had to push start a Corvair in front of an audience!  The lights, horn and other electrical gadgets worked fine.  A fully charged jumper box (or whatever you call them) did nothing.  A jump from another vehicle started the car.  Later even the car jump did not work.  Corvair expert, Frank Du Val, ran a test on the starter and it was not getting enough juice.  Frank, with his vast experience, determined that the battery cable had pulled loose inside the Delco molded clamp.  A new and longer cable from Clark's did work.  Yes, the battery was tight in the battery hold down retainer.  Cutting the clamp open, it was not obvious that the cable had slipped.  However, you could see where it had slipped where the cable enters the clamp.  The old cable was just long enough 
to reach the post.  Apparently, the flexing of the engine was enough to pull the cable less than 1/4" out of the clamp.  I think the reason the first jump worked was because we probably attached the jumper to the exposed part of the cable.  Thanks again, Frank! 

Ray Davis