88 orangepeel notch

Well, as some may know, I just got done with my 5 speed swap and had a couple electrical problems. Thanks again to those that helped. So I took the car to work yesterday and life was good. Came out of work to find battery was dead, no lights were left on. Now my car has always had a small drain since I've owned it, it will last a week or two if left. But its never drained in 8 hrs. Got it jumped and ran it 30 miles to Autozone to test battery. It checked out good, so we checked alt. and during start, he said it drew 280 amps during cranking and that was really high. What would cause that?
Just to throw something else out there, this car always started extremely loud, like it trying to rip the flywheel off. This is my third starter, thinking its always been the starter causing this racket, it never helped. So then I assumed flywheel, but after 5the speed swap, same thing. What do I have screwed up?

mattdel

280 amp draw is a whopper. Starters are internally grounded to their casing, and the higher resistance to ground they have, the higher amperage draw they will have. I'd get another new starter, and then maybe some heat shielding for it. You obviously have an issue with heat soak killing your starters.

Just as an aside, a bad battery ground will cause this too.

mjr46

High current draw and low cranking speed indicate a faulty starter or possibly engine problems. Low cranking speed and low current draw indicate excessive resistance somewhere in starter circuit. Always check specifications, remember the bigger the engine the more current required for starting.

Slow cranking and high current draw typically indicates the brushes or bushings in the starter are worn. Worn bushings or an off-center armature may result in poling and can throw off the alignment of the magnetic fields.

88 orangepeel notch

That's fast, thanks. Will check that tonight. Would a bad voltage regulator cause this also, forgot to ad that to original post. It came up bad with test.

88 orangepeel notch

Got home and started checking, neg. battery ground was good. The dead battery was my fault, accidentally hooked my amps key switched power to a constant power off fuse panel, my bad. All other cables and connections look good. May have to try another starter, but my starters aren't going bad. I'm replacing them because of the terrible noise this thing makes cranking over. Any body use shims/washers to pull their starters away from bellhousing little bit? It sounds like its grinding the teeth off sometimes. Motor spins over good, hot or cold, doesn't matter.

mattdel

When you take it out, look around closely (use a small extendable mirror if you have to) and try and find some wear marks caused by the noise. That info will help narrow down the issue and possible shimming needs.

mjr46

ONE QUESTION.......do you have the spacer plate installed that goes between the block and bellhousing???? never had to ever use shims, if that plate is there

88 orangepeel notch

Yes, the plate is there. The three starters if gone thru were from Autozone. Maybe I'll try a different brand.

parrfive

It sounds to me like your starter is too close to the flywheel somehow. If it were mine i would pull the starter and oblong one of the starter bolt holes and pull the starter away from the flywheel and try it again and see the the grinding gets any better. If so do the same with a new starter and call it good.

88 orangepeel notch

Yeah, I thought about that to, but all of these starters have a 1/8th in. round raised boss that locks it into the round hole in plate/bellhousing. My only the adjustment can be out with washers.