Date:         Sun, 28 Jun 2015 18:12:05 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Testing the starter question
Comments: To: Jeremy Stovin <jjstov@YAHOO.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <D1AFF348-B369-4B81-B276-08F80DB27BD3@yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 02:55 PM 6/28/2015, Jeremy Stovin wrote:
>Still have starting concerns for my '87westy.
>
>A lot of recommendations to do a voltage drop test, between solenoid
>and positive terminal. How??? Is there a place to get extra extra
>long wires for my multimeter?

Sure, any old roll of wire you have lying around.

You have to find out where the voltage drops are being distributed
around the  circuit.  Ideally you'd like to see (say) ten volts
across the battery terminals, the same ten volts across the starter
windings, and nothing anywhere else.  That's not going to happen
because the wires and connections all have some amount of
resistance.  But with the engine cranking you should see less than
half a volt measured from the positive battery post to the starter
positive post; and less than that between the starter case and the
negative battery post.  On the ground side the current flows through
the starter case, the transmission housing, the ground cable at the
transmission nose, the van body, and the ground cable going to the
battery.  Each junction is a chance for a bad connection that wastes
power.  So put your voltmeter on the two volt and 200 millivolt
scales and go looking for voltage drops that shouldn't be there.

Also you should see no less than eight volts across the two battery
posts during cranking under the worst conditions.  If the battery
can't maintain that either it has a problem or the starter is using
too much current because of an internal short or because the engine
is too hard to turn.

Yours,
David


>Volt test on battery looks good, but will like invest in a load tester also.
>
>What grounds should I check?(where)