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RE: Spitfire-won't

To: Richard Gosling <richard.gosling@exprogroup.com>,
Subject: RE: Spitfire-won't
From: Douglas Braun & Nadia Papakonstantinou <doug@dougbraun.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 07:50:59 -0400
Some tips for diagnosing starting problems:

When a connection has too much resistance to allow the starter to work,
but it still lets some current through, it will be absorbing a
lot of the energy and it will eventually get HOT. 

So when you have this problem, quickly go feel the various connections
and find the one that's getting warm.  That one is most likely the
one with the problem.

Another trick:  Try starting the car with the headlamps on.  If
the lights do not dim more than usual, then the battery and
connections as far as the headlamp circuit are probably OK.
If the lights immediately go out, either your battery is dead or bad,
or the connections to the battery are bad, or the ground strap is bad.

Doug Braun
'72 Spit

At 03:51 AM 6/17/02, Richard Gosling wrote:
>I've had the same problem, with a much more mundane solution:
>
>Poor connection onto the battery!  There is enough power to throw the
>solonoid, but when the starter motor tries to drain the huge current it
>needs, voltage falls though the floor and nothing happens - not even the
>groaning attempt at turning over that you usually get with a flat-ish
>battery.

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