no click no crank

[jborg]

Car was starting fine when garaged 2 years ago. I finally started working on it again. All lights work. New starter relay. (everything is basically new)
I noticed that my battery ground was connected to the aluminum heads. I'm thinking that is not the best place to ground the system. Should I move the ground to a water pump bolts?
Any other suggestions to troubleshoot this?

TIA

oh yeah, 69 383 Charger

 

[DWilbur]

Grounding to the aluminum heads is common practice. did you check the starter to see if it is locked up.

 

[krowbar]

Do you have power across the relay to the starter while cranking?

 

[D575]

This is going to sound strange, I bought an aftermarket repop battery cable. It worked just fine, until it didn't.. evidently it wasn't crimped well enough in the battery terminal... one day it was just click click......the car was stored out back and I went through some stuff getting it into the garage to really check it out.. I thought for sure the starter went south on me... after pulling the starter and bench testing... I realized that the brand new battery cable I paid $60.00 for was a piece of ****..

 

[Car Nut]

Have you checked the NSS or the NS wiring?

 

[miller]

Have a grounding strap mounted, from back of the motor to the firewall? Kinda sounds like maybe a bad ground.

 

[nm9stheham]

Do you have a voltmeter? It is a lot easier to troubleshoot this problem with one.

With no click, I would suspect a bad starter relay or the NSS (or clutch switch) is bad or not connected.

Use a screwdriver to jumper between the big lug and the solenoid connection on the starter relay while in neutral or park to see if the starter cranks. That will rule the starter/battery/grounds in or out.

And grounds to AL heads are common for newer EFI cars. But for the older non-EFI engines, putting the battery - direct to the block eliminates one more bolted interface. Make sure you DO have a battery - cable to the block; don't depend on just the ground from the firewall to the heads or bellhousing.

 

[jborg]

That produced a huge spark! Is thats what is supposed to happen?