Electrical/Starting Problem.. With pics.. pls help...

[miniblob]

You may or may not have seen my previous threads so i'll give a brief overview!!

Intermittent problem when starting my 327 - used to happen occasionally, now it rarely starts!!
Turn the ignition key and all you get the the clicking sound of the starter solenoid.
Bridge diag pins 11 & 14 - same clicking.
Has had new starter/solenoid.
Has had new battery.
All connections, inc earths, appear to be good.
Battery (new last week) shows 12.69v at the mo. Did show about 13.8v iirc with the engine running last week.
Meter in series with the -ve terminal shows a current of 0.01A.
Sometimes when trying, the fan does turn slightly.

Sounds silly, but it seems like the engine is too tight for the starter to turn!! Is that even possible with a fairly fresh built 2.7? (although it does have between 5 & 10k on it now!!)
Really, all seems to indicate to me a lack of power somewhere, but i really can't understand how it can go several days of not starting and then randomly starts first turn of the key???

From the look of it i'm going to have to drag my bad back under the car and disconnect, clean up and reconnect all the earths (big zero gauge and only a couple of years old!!).
What else can i try??
Could it be the big cable to the starter breaking down??

I'm even thiking about remaking and replacing all the leads between the battery/starter/alternator and the earths!!! They appear to just run along the back of the engine bay from the batt term?

Do the connections in my pics all look correct? (only had this prob recently and it does sometimes start, so don't see how they could be wrong!!)

Please post up any ideas / suggestions as i'm getting really fed up with this now!! Already in trouble for being late to work several times 'cos of this too!!

Could it be something shorting or causing a drain with the ignition on?? I'd expect that to blow a fuse somewhere!!

New batt...


Four wires from the +ve term...


Starter has a small black/green at the top, Two larger cables from the right hand terminal and a slightly smaller one from just below - where do these all go? Is the black/green an earth (can't tell where that goes!!)...



Please help!!!

[daimlerman]

Have you tried a new earth lead?

Try adding an extra earth lead direct from the o/s engine mount to the battery neg.

[miniblob]

I haven't tried a new earth lead, but i suppose i'm going to have to at some point soon!!
The two earths (-ve term to suspension turret and chassis to engine on the passenger side) are both recent and were made from very high quality zero gauge (very fat) high current cable. All connections are well terminated and very tight, so i just can't see them being the problem.
And how can they be intermittent??

Also very reluctant to run an extra earth to somewhere - especially with this being an intermittent fault. I don't want to think i've cured it and mess about fixing another cable in (which would be a bodge anyway really) and then have it fail again a week later!!

For now, i've overtightened one of the earths and sheared the bolt, so i can't put it back together until i get some new bits next week.
I'll be ordering up new battery terminals, some new zero gauge cable and other bits, when i get a chance!

Still hoping for other ideas and suggestions before the zone goes down though, otherwise i guess i'll be trying to find an auto electrician, or taking the car back to Ant to play with!!!

[miniblob]

Appreciate the tips Willnz, although it's pretty much what i've done!!!

What sort of problems could the unloader relay cause? Is that in the fuse box??
I'm not aware of anything being on when i start the car, but i guess it's worth checking!

Can't believe the starter is seizing - it's doing exactly the same as the one it replaced, which was less than 18 months old anyway (and a different make)!!

Can't find any probs with any of the connections (apart from breaking that -ve term yesterday ), but i think i'll be replacing (and prob soldering now) the big earths and then i guess replacing the big cable to the starter would be the next step!