Disconnect the negative battery terminal and w/the multimeter set to "DC 10A," which usually requires plugging the red meter lead into another plug in spot on the meter, and then place a meter lead on the negative battery post and the other lead on the disconnected cable and see what the meter indicates as this will indicate if you have a voltage draw or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry68G0C2Fyc

http://www.aa1car.com/library/voltage_drop_testing.htm

 

thanks for the video satch, but i dont see how i can use this for my car i have no extra cables on the terminals just the original factory cable the two to the positive and the one black with a yellow stripe cable going to the negative terminal... ill however start from there, i know its the negative, ill double check see how much it drops thanks

 

You don't need extra cables for there to be a problem as either the ones present are doing their job or they are not.

 

okay i will check the voltage drop on both to make sure

 

I had the physical wires in my hand and read the sizes off them. even if it was too small it worked great, but i just recently rewired it for bigger wires.

 

pics of rewire??

 

i checked the voltage at the starter while cranking , it shows 7.13 volts....and i noticed that if i removed the negavitive terminal and jumped the - on the battery to the engine i have spark ir a short is the block supposed to be like that?

 

Yes. There are several points that the engine is grounded to the body by. Essentially you are doing the same thing by running the negative cable to the engine as you are when the negative cable is bolted to the body.

Thats part of the reason why you get a spark when you hook up your battery cable.

 

then you have a voltage drop that is quite large and there is a bad contact someplace.

 

...okay now to pin point that...where would be some common spots where i can start, the ignition? the 80amp fuse and the wires?

 

watch the video posted. over and over and over.

 

It's like this. There is one very large cable that comes off the positive post of the battery and connects directly to the starter solenoid. Ain't nothing inbetween. Straight shot. So you check the connectors on each end of that cable.

Then there is but one very large cable coming off the battery negative cable that, in stk form, bolted to the long bolt that holds the starter to the transmission. So you check both ends of that cable.

None of the fuses supply power to the wiring in the starter itself. All the wire from the ignitoin switch does is trigger the solenoid on the starter. It does not power the starter itself in any way other than that.

Even if the chassis was not grounded to the batt neg post the starter would whip over just fine since the batt neg and pos post feed directly to the starter.

IF the battery is very good and the cables end fitting are very good and clean, then the starter should spin over just fine unless the starter itself is marginal.

About that cable from the batt to the starter solenoid........when the solenoid engages it passes power from that cable thru the contacts inside the solenoid and on out to the guts of the starter. So a marginal set of solenoid contacts might cause a problem. Not that likely imho.

IF you have a car that when the key is put to Start..........the result is just a click.........now that is a differnt deal altogether.

 

wow thank you hailers! i thought thr positive two cables ran into the cabin and that would have been fun! today im going to go replace the ground with a 2 gauge