Major Frustration, might bury car in woods

My car sat for a while, in my garage this past few months. Today, awesome day, I went to fire her up. Nothing. My battery seems dead, so i try to use the boost setting on my charger, no problem, everything lights up, except the motor. I get a buzzing noise from the starter. I don't know what the story is. I fiddle with the wires, seem OK. Nothing. I rap that sucker with a hammer a few times, bingo it starts to spin. It trys to start, grabs a little, and then it just spins and sounds like it is grinding on my flexplate. Seemed fine when I parked her. One thing after another is killing me here. I think maybe I should rip out the old harness and lay in a new one, to at least try to minimize my potential problems. Wacky signals, dying batteries, ridiculous aftermarket alarm and cheap gauges from the previous owner, Rube Goldberg was under ny hood!!! I need a house call!

Oh well, thanks for any input......Paul

 

Try to get the battery fully charged and then try again. I know you obviously have more problems than just a low battery, but batteries that are not charged to a reasonable amount make your starter do funny things, and present other gremlins. A full battery will save your sanity.

 

Make sure the surface where the starter attaches to the block is clean and the starter connections are tight. You might want to check the voltage while cranking to see the starter isn't pulling the battery voltage down too much.

 

Hey... We're all in this boat together so you'll pull through just like the rest of us. To help you ease the pain I'll tell you about my last week with the car.

I come home late one night and I'm shuffling my girlfriend's car for her spot on the street. I take her's out and when I'm to restart mine nothing happens. I just get the lights on inside but nothing from the starter. I'm lucky enought to be able to push my car into the spot, and I think what now??? So next day I'm out there trying to figure out what is going on, I measure the voltage in the wires, all seems good. Well then something happened to the starter motor right? I take it out, but I forget to disconnect the battery, the battery cable comes in contact and there is alot of sparks flying. I'm under the car on the street and now this thing catches fire, there's fire on the chassis, ground, and starter motor. I get the fire out, and see that the wires a bit burned but ok. I get the starter out, down to pep boys where I got it about three months ago. They say it's fine, machne gives it an all ok. I'm like ??? Ok in it goes, check all cables, try to start.. yes starter goes, engine fires up, and dies... This is not unusual for my car so I think oh well I'll just have to try again, but nothing.. Ok Tuesday comes, I'm babysitting the car while street cleaning is taking place, I'm doing my homework in it, and I avoid a parking ticket.. It takes me a few days and I figure out there's no gas reaching the carb. Fine, look in the book, seems like fuel pump is out. Get new one, when the old one comes out, a broken spacer and some metal pieces falls out, I think I've found the solution. New fuel pump ges in, but there's still no fuel reaching the carb. I get my girlfriend to get me some more fuel just to be sure... Ok, something is wrong with the fuel supply from the pump - back. I blow in the line, there's bubbling in the tank so it should get fuel through. I'm out there fiddling with this for hours, and the car has now been sitting a week. I'm about to disconnect the line at the tank to see if it is the line or tank, and I'm trying to see how the line runs under the car... and then I see it, there's a hole in the line the size of the tip of a pen. I'm like what the ... So what happened was, when the starter shorted out when I was taking it out, it burned a hole in the fuel line and the fuel came out and that was what was burning. I thought it was oil under the car that was burning, so I never made the connection till afterwards. ou:

I think we're all there every now and then when you're dealing with old cars. I just seem to be there alot, but I knew it would be like this when I got the car so I'm not too upset about it. Just keep cool and think logically. Check what the book tells you to check first... It could be something very small that is easily overlooked. I'm learning the hard way, as has probably most people here.

:TU: :TU: :TU:

 

Check the power wires going to the starter.

 

Thanks for the replies. Tomorrow I go fishing in the Keys......so, the Buick will wait. I will check the things suggested and see how it goes.

Thanks again, Paul

 

Too funny, my Uncle always says that. I never knew what it ment until I read your post and looked up Rube Goldberg.. :TU: