I went to start my car the other day and it was clicking. I assumed the battery connection was bad, so I cleaned the terminals. After that didnt work I thought the battery may just be dead, so I had someone jump me and it fired up. The next day I went to purchase and new battery and installed it along w/ new terminals. When I went to turn over the car, I got the same click. So I hooked the battery up to a charger and tried turning it over and it worked??? The car reads a little more than 12 volts of charge on the battery while i have the ignition was on, so i'm farely sure the battery isnt dead. Anyone else ever have a similar problem?

 

Check your voltage while trying to start. Keep going farther and farther away while verifying you have 12v. Find where your voltage cuts... there's your problem. The common spots are battery terminals and the starter connections.

 

+1

The resistance in the connections (I'd say to the starter since you replaced the battery terminals) is causing a voltage drop. When you're boosting, you're essentially overcoming this poor connection between your battery and the starter. Check your ground wire too from the battery to the chassis and the connection at the chassis.

 

sounds like a ground issue to me.. especially since it wouldn't start with a new battery. The ground could look solid but if its slightly loose or dirty it will mess things up

 

I would look at the battery terminals, they are most likely corroded on the inside (where they contact the post.) This layer of corrosion make for contact resistance which won't let the starter get enough current. The rest of the wiring must be ok since you were using it all.

I almost forgot, the recommended jumping proceedure is to connect the positive to the + on the battery and negative to the engine block somewhere (alternator housing), if you did this to jump it, try connecting straight from one battery to the other and see if it still works, if not, it is a ground issue.

 

He bought new terminals.

 

Look at the starter connections.

 

i would guess its the starter selinoid. mine does it, it will just click, if i turn the key 2-3 times it ends up starting.

 

That is the ignition switch, not the start solenoid. If it was the start solenoid you wouldn't get a click at all. The click and no start is because the solenoid is firing but the starter isn't getting the power to crank.
Since he has a known good battery and it only starts with jumper cables then he has some bad connections that are making the starter not see as much power as it should. This means bad connections, likely at the starter or other nearby grounds since he already replaced the batt terminals.

 

umm i know my problem is the starter, its been like that for a while. all you hear is the "bendix" partially click in, and if that doesnt fully click in, it wont allow the starter motor to spin.

 

K, i'll check the starter connections tom. I know the grounds are good b/c I installed 2 sections of 4 gauge wire a few months ago to help ground the car a bit better. I'll try doing some cleaning tom. @ the starter end and hopefully that will be the end of it. Thanks for your input!
Paul