Car clicks but won't start, help!

[Mateoconamor]

I left my lights on after driving my Charger and ran the battery completely dead. I put the battery charger on it and got it fully charged. Now it makes one loud click and won't turn the starter. I took the battery to the store and let them check it and it came back as a good battery. I've cleaned the terminals on the battery cables and checked and cleaned the smaller wire bolted to the starter. Any ideas??

 

[Bruzilla]

The battery was good, but was it charged? I just had a similar issue where I drained my battery, and placed it on a charger I bought about a year ago. After several hours the charger showed the battery was charged, but I was getting the same results you were.

I put the battery back on the charger and reset it, and where it had shown the battery was at 12.2 volts before, it was now showing 10 and some change. I set the charger to do a quick start charge, and after about 15 minutes the car started right up.

I think some of the newer chargers don't measure the actual charge going to the battery, but rather the charge they think is going to the battery. As a result they indicate what they think the battery should be at and not what it actually is at, and if the current wasn't actually reaching the battery you end up with a still dead battery that's showing charged on the charger.

 

[Mateoconamor]

What about the machine at the battery store that said the battery was ok? Could it be wrong? If its clicking does that mean the starter solinoid is ok? Is there a fuse somewhere?

 

[67 coronet]

the click just means you are not getting enough power to your starter or it is bad.did the store say battery was fully charged or just good.a battery can test good and still not be fully charged.it needs to have at least a volt reading of 12.5 to be considered charged.

 

[Mateoconamor]

The battery showed around 12.5 volts, I charged it all night. How can you tell if the starter is bad?

 

[67 coronet]

The battery showed around 12.5 volts, I charged it all night. How can you tell if the starter is bad?

pull it and have it bench tested is only way to be absolutley sure.are both ends of both cables clean and in good condition?

 

[Mateoconamor]

Just replaced the terminal on the positive side. Cleaned the negative on both ends good. Can the starter get stuck?

 

[Sixer]

Click is the drive engaging or attempting to engage. One way to encourage a reluctant starter is to jump from another car even if your battery is charged. If this works, starter is bad/tired and drawing lots of amps to turn. Another trick is to have someone turn key to start and give starter a good rap with a hammer. Bad spot on armature or hung brush will respond to this. Either way, it's starter time. Do yourself a favor, and get a reman starter for a 93 Dakota 318. Is gear reduction, lighter, smaller, more powerful. You'll have to pay the core though as yours isn't correct core, but it's worth it.

 

[Mateoconamor]

The thing that is odd is that the starter has been working great. Would it just stop all of a sudden?

 

[440roadrunner]

"statistical change/ coincidence"

The fact that the car was evidently OK before the battery went dead tells me....................

you should take the battery to someone ELSE and have it LOAD TESTED. A Load tester looks something like this:

(Carbon pile load tester)

NOTE. This is showing a load of 700 amps at 10 volts. That is one HELL of a battery!!!

If your battery really shows OK with a reliable load tester (and someone who knows how to use it)

Then you need to buy a multimeter, if you don't, and should have, anyhow.

 

[Mateoconamor]

When I get home I'll hook up my jumper cables to my other car and see if I can get the starter to work

 

[tpodwdog]

clean the negative terminals on the battery and the block.....my 440 was doing that and cleaning it up was all it took!

 

[1FYNBEL]

One suggestion...while you are at the parts store getting your battery load tested, pick up a starter relay. I had a similiar issue with my battery and it turned out to be a $10 starter relay.

 

[69Bee]

"statistical change/ coincidence"

The fact that the car was evidently OK before the battery went dead tells me....................

you should take the battery to someone ELSE and have it LOAD TESTED. A Load tester looks something like this:

(Carbon pile load tester)

NOTE. This is showing a load of 700 amps at 10 volts. That is one HELL of a battery!!!

If your battery really shows OK with a reliable load tester (and someone who knows how to use it)

Then you need to buy a multimeter, if you don't, and should have, anyhow.

Just like 440 says, a battery needs to be LOAD tested. It can show 12v and still not have the capacity required to turn the starter.

 

[Funship32]

Just my 2 cents here so take it for what it is worth: I've seen and had batteries go bad all of a sudden and go bad after being drained. You can charge them and they "seem" okay but the second one puts a load on them, they just didn't cut the mustard. So what to do? Here is what I would do as troubleshooting 101: First off, with your headlights on, hit the starter and see what the lights do. Typically it is best if you can have someone hit the starter while you watch this, unless you know how to jump the starter relay. Regardless of how you do it, what the results: Do your lights drop off completely or dim down a substancial amount? Or do they stay brightly lit dimming only slighly? If they drop off completely or a very noticable amount, I'd suspect your battery. if you have access to one (I do as I own several Mopars), I'd try a different one as a test (no $$ involved is always a good way to go). If your lights say brightly lit and dim slightly and the car just "clicks", then I would suspect a bad solenoid on the starter (this is different than the starter relay). Again..that is how I would go to it. Good luck.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Try jumping the starter relay:blob1:

 

[kb67mopar]

As previously stated go with the load test. I just went through this with a buddies neon, battery is being kinda flaky to the point where we decided to replace the starter. $60 later it still won't consistently start. I told him to go buy a battery.

I once had my battery in my old dakota load tested, ran down to 6 volts under load...still started the truck!

 

[RustyRatRod]

The click you hear is the solenoid trying to engage. IF you can get a clear shot at the starter, give it a good firm whack with a medium size ball peen hammer. Often times the armeture gets a dirty spot on it and that's usually where the starter motor lands when it stops. If it spins after a good whack, put a new starter on it. You can also use a long extension to transfer said whack if you cannot get right to the starter. hit the starter though, not the solenoid.

 

[Sixer]

The click you hear is the solenoid trying to engage. IF you can get a clear shot at the starter, give it a good firm whack with a medium size ball peen hammer. Often times the armeture gets a dirty spot on it and that's usually where the starter motor lands when it stops. If it spins after a good whack, put a new starter on it. You can also use a long extension to transfer said whack if you cannot get right to the starter. hit the starter though, not the solenoid.

Guess it bears repeating.........:headbang:

 

[RustyRatRod]

Guess it bears repeating.........:headbang:

Sometimes people make things harder than they are and need to be told more than once. LOL