1985 Intermittent Starting Problem
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2015
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1985 Intermittent Starting Problem
I've got what I think is an odd electrical problem. Sometimes my car won't start, it won't even crank. The problem generally happens after I've driven the car for a while, let it sit for an hour or two, and then try to go start it up again. Here's how it goes:
- Get in the car
- Turn the key to the point where everything electronic starts firing up
- Turn the key to start and nothing, all the electronic stuff turns off
- The car won't turn over
- I can hear something that makes a click sound in the inside rear of the car every time I turn the key to the start position
- Corroded positive terminal
- The second time the car died I tried jumping it again and it wouldn't do anything
- Took the battery cables off to inspect them and found a lot of corrosion on the positive contacts that touch the battery
- Put the cables back on and it fired right up
- I've since cleaned the cable contacts and battery thoroughly with cleaners and with a Dremel
- No corrosion anymore but the problem still happens
- Another idea is that it's something in the wires that come out of the positive connection (but not the biggest cable running to the starter)
- Tonight I got to thinking the problem might be in the little wires and connectors that are in the positive cable
- Maybe moving just them around when undoing and inspecting the cable move them enough to get them in the right place
- I don't have any idea what these cables do though so I'm just not sure
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2015
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I've cleaned the wires and the battery a couple of times with wire brush, Dremel, and electric contact cleaner so I don't think the problem is there. Last night when the car wouldn't start I took everything apart again and there wasn't any corrosion that I could see. I'm waiting for it to act up again so I can see if jiggling the other wires on the positive cable makes a difference. Was just hoping someone else might know what's going on.
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2015
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I've cleaned the wires and the battery a couple of times with wire brush, Dremel, and electric contact cleaner so I don't think the problem is there. Last night when the car wouldn't start I took everything apart again and there wasn't any corrosion that I could see. I'm waiting for it to act up again so I can see if jiggling the other wires on the positive cable makes a difference. Was just hoping someone else might know what's going on.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
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The OP needs to likely just concentrate on maybe a clutch switch, neutral safety, starter interrupt or potential ignition switch situation that could be electrical or possibly mechanical in failure to the rod/pawl from the key cylinder IF/ONCE he confirms the condition of cable connections to the battery and the starter motor.
Last edited by WVZR-1; Oct 1, 2015 at 10:53 AM.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 4,328
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From: Jacksonville FL
I would also check that your starter connections are clean and tight, both the big and small wires. Check your ignition switch near the bottom of your steering column. It would be really good to have a DVM handy when this problem occurs to check the switch for voltage and other places in the power circuit. You can get a cheap DVM at Harbor Freight for about $10. Intermittent issues are kinda tough to diagnose so having the right tools handy will help tremendously.
Battery cables will also corrode internally where it wont necessarily be obvious there is an issue. They arent that expensive so replacement may cure your issues. When you moved the cables around cleaning them you may have helped it make a better connection. With you losing all power I would suspect them being the culprit.
Try all the free stuff first. Sounds like your working in the right direction and keep checking all connectors. Dont forget the grounds, they are just as important especially with our plastic cars.
Battery cables will also corrode internally where it wont necessarily be obvious there is an issue. They arent that expensive so replacement may cure your issues. When you moved the cables around cleaning them you may have helped it make a better connection. With you losing all power I would suspect them being the culprit.
Try all the free stuff first. Sounds like your working in the right direction and keep checking all connectors. Dont forget the grounds, they are just as important especially with our plastic cars.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 10,036
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From: Anaheim CA
I had the exact same symptoms. It turned out to be a leaking battery terminal that ate up the wire inside the positive battery cable.
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2015
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Thanks everyone. I was hoping this would be one of those "oh yeah, that happens a lot on 85s and it's easy to fix" problems. Looks like I've got some investigating to do. I'll post back if I can figure it out. Thanks again.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
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It is kind of an "oh yeah" for any 30 year old car. Do you know that either of the battery cables have been changed?
If checking, confirming repairing/replacing battery terminations doesn't provide long term fix then it's on to the other potential culprits.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2015
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As far as I can tell the cables are original but I'm not sure. I only got the car about 6 weeks ago and before that it had been in storage for a long time. It's probably something simple but I've just got to work through it.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
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For an '85 I'd think one to the ECM and another to the cooling fans, if there's a multiple fusible link in one then it's likely that it's the HL lift circuits maybe. If you've got an AUX fan then there would likely be multiple FL for that also.
Racer
Joined: Mar 2015
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From: SE Ohio
St. Jude Donor '16-'17-'18,'19
I had the same problem with my 91. Did you pull the battery bolt out of the rubber housing on the end of the cables? That's where I found my problem. The cable was actually rusted under the head of the bolt.
Thread Starter
Instructor
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No, but that's a good suggestion. There was surface rust on the exposed parts of those bolts so rust inside wouldn't surprise me.