rtintwo

Replace the cables.

TexasAxMan

Yes.

There are 4 of them:

Battery negative to passenger side of block
Rear of passenger head to firewall
Battery positive to starter solenoid
Starter solenoid to starter motor.

jaw1962

I got 3 of them. Can you direct me to "rear of passenger head to firewall"? What to you mean by passenger head?

jaw1962

Is "passenger head" the same as the passenger side of the engine block? I'm not seeing any wire attached to the firewall. Any chance someone has a picture with the starting/ed points of this wire?

Kirklandkie

ok when you cleaned said battery terminals, did you actually take them off and use a wire brush on both the terminals and the inside of the leads? that'd be the proper way to clean them verses an aesthetic whip down

-kirk

jaw1962

yes I took the cables off and cleaned the inside of the leads with high grit sandpaper. and I cleaned the other cable leads the same way, and brushed the posts on the solenoid, starter and block with a wire brush. I did not clean the battery posts as it was a brand new battery. I just bought it on saturday. Is there a need to clean the posts on a new battery? Is there some kind of coating on them? I've never done it before and have never had a problem.

gjz30075

Yes, the engine block's head on the passenger side should have a good sized wire attached to the back of it, going to the firewall.

jaw1962

OK, so I'm going to add this 4th wire [attached to the firewall] that seems to be missing. If I can't find a different spot on the engine block, can I use the same mount point as the cable that goes to the battery's negative post?

Oxnard Montalvo

Not really necessary. If you didn't have the block grounded it would never start, not be intermittent.

Are the connections good and tight? They must be to ensure a sound electrical path. The clicking and sparking point to poor connections.

Do you have lights now? If not, turn them on and wiggle each connection. If the lights come on you've found the bad one.

I hope you don't have screwed together terminals on the battery, they're crap.


^J.U.N.K.

jaw1962

well..........i decided to take the starter to autozone to have it tested while i was looking for new cables. they said the test was "inconclusive". i decided the heck with it and bought a new one anyway. i also figured i might as well change the solenoid given how little they cost. new starter + new solenoid + new cables = car starts. i'm going to not get too excited until i know it still starts a week from now. )

thanks to everyone for the suggestions.