My '95 Roadmaster cranks slowly when you try to start it. Right now the battery and alternator are almost new and were in there when I bought it. The starter is probably original. 98,000 miles. I checked the voltage at the battery when starting and it goes from 12.6 to 10.6 while cranking which seems ok. It just likes to crank slow and then it starts. It is wierd. It seems to be spinning at 2/3rd speed. For you old guys it sounds like a '50's Ford with a 6V system cranking. I'm wondering if the starter, which is the mini late model type, can be going bad. I believe they have permanent magnets in them. Maybe the magnets are loosing their field somewhat? Anybody have any ideas. I have as yet to crawl under and measure the cranking voltage at the starter terminal.
They have a lot of brush spring tension.Probably running out of brush which causes poor brush/armature contact.Check your cables & connections first.Also your charging voltage should be well over 14V:TU:
Voltage seems low to begin with. Check the battery grounds at the fender and at the block (at the base of the alternator support bar). Also check the cable is tight at the starter. You can also switch the cable out for the one that innovative wiring sells. It helped make my engine fire up alot faster with the stock starter and worn out battery. Just make sure you route it right because it's very heavy guage wire and only wants to go in one way. Generally a slow starter is from low voltage or poor connections.
up by the pass firewall is an aux. post main power feed. I believe they were made of Alum. in '94 and early '95 ... you need to change it out to the brass one. GM sells a kit ... Really - some cars caught fire because of this. The alum corrodes, resistance goes up ... and you better have marshmellows on hand check it out searching on impalassforum.com
Had to change it on both of my L99 cars. The second one the post had actually melted through the plastic post cover. The whole aux fuse block needs to be taken apart to switch the post out.
Charging voltage is a bit over 14V at idle. I'll see what it does above. I had the lights on for a minute to take the surface charge off the battery before I tried the starter. There was some sort of alarm BS installed on the car that had a starter lockout so I just spliced the wires to stock and the one wire I couldn't get off was a feed coming from the large terminal at the firewall. The wrench was trying to twist the whole box off the firewall so I let it alone. I'll look into that. I believe it is silver but I don't know if that means it is aluminum. Jamie, can you just buy the brushes by themselves, just in case?
Silver/grey is aluminum. It gets replaced with a brass post and nut. They are available at dealers but you may need to check around to find one in stock since they aren't all that plentiful.
Couldn't have said it better myself. It was a factory recall on 9C1 (police) and B4U (taxi) caprices. It's a pretty straight forward fix, and it comes as a kit that also replaces the female connecters to the fuses. When I did it the nut on the auxiliary post had arked ot self to the post, so I had to brake it apart.
That's the aluminum one, go to impalassforum.com, and search for the user, Del. He's a GMC parts guy and will hook you up with parts at a wholesale discount.
I've been out of the B-body loop for quite some time now, but I think you meant Dal ... and he had retired even back when i was still in the game. He was a true asset to the whole GM community. ... I know ImpalaSSforum.com website also took a huge crap a few years ago loosing years and years of posts/important info so searching for it now may not prove fruitful but I'd still give it a try or start a new post asking for info on it
Dal, that was it. Yeah, I have been out of the loop for a long time, maybe.5 years. Still have my engine though, just not sure what to put it in!
Yup, I'll bet the brushes are worn - just got through replacing the PMGR starter on my pickup, it was cranking really slowly. I took it apart, and the brushes pretty much fell out/apart in my hand. New starter, and no worries!
Dal's retired and moved away. http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=237690&highlight=Terminal+mod That's all the info with part numbers and pictures. I'd still say start with checking all the connections first. Those starters aren't known for failing. I've actually never seen one fail on an stock engine. Only time they seem to fail is on high compression 383's. Generally the wiring fails and makes you think the starter is bad. Same with fuel pumps and electric fans. It's the wiring that fails. My car had slow starts and the battery cable fixed the issue. That car had 190k miles on it.
Here's all the info you need to figure out the starter http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=227233
I have a story about a 95 Firebird with a very slow cranking LT1. We changed the battery, the cables, and the starter and still couldn't get the motor to spin fast enough to start the car. It put so much load on the system that getting the motor to turn, even with a fully charged battery and a separate vehicle and jumper cables, was near impossible. We almost set the car on fire during that attempt, smoking the battery cable. After replacing the cable, we had one guy get under the front of the car while someone tried to start it again, and with a closer look he found the problem. Hard to believe, but the AC compressor was locked up, and the drag from the serpentine belt was keeping the motor from spinning over. we pulled the belt, turned the key, and the motor fired right up. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it my own two eyes. Learn something new every day!
When those compresors seize they really cause a massive headache. They tend to do it at about 100k miles too. I usually just ended up bypassing it since I never had a system that didn't leak anyway.
Only way to bypass the compressor on the bird would be to buy a special replacement idler that bolts in place of the compressor. The alternator, power steering pump, and AC are all driven from that side, and you have to have something there or the belt would just drag on itself going around the remaining pulleys. As a side note, the AC compressor was replaced today, and I stopped by to see how it ran just after dark. He fired it up, and while it was running we saw sparks flying out of the back if the alternator. Now he gets to take it off and find out what else is wrong. Seems to be a never-ending story with his POS. I know one thing, after all the time we have spent on this car, you couldn't give me a late 90's Firebird. Thanks, but no thanks. Later, Randy
The bypass pulley is about $40. It's installed with 3 bolts. The bolt holes have to be opened up (threads removed) so that the bolts can slide freely. I run a drill in there in reverse and it removes the threads without jamming. Then 3 washers get put behind each bolt hole (9 washers total) between the motor and the bracket to properly space the pulley and align the belt. Can you tell I've been down this road before :laugh:
