PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Lol @ Harry

I'll try and get some new video soon. This thing need to see more time on the road either way.

Here's an old one if you haven't seen it already:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPfwJ1ZJyLQ

Ughhh. I took the car out to get gas and run to the store. No problems till I got home and parked in front of my garage.. It decided that didn't want to start. I tried bunch of things. All I could get it to do was clunk the solenoid.

I tried:
Charging up the battery with a charger
Power probing the signal wire (heard the solenoid clunk)
New starter
Jumping
Jumping with the positive lead on the starter
Jumping + power probing the signal wire (heard the solenoid clunk)
Spinning the engine via the crank pulley to make sure the engine wasn't seized
I verified I had over 13v at the starter with the jumper cables hooked up and without the jumper cables I had 12.5v at the battery.

I decided to try turning the starter with jumper cables (from another car) and a power probe. It spun, no problem..

I needed to get the car back in the garage.. and since I live on a small 1 way street and my driveway has a short/steep grade.. I can't just push my car in. So, I pop started it and it fired right up. Once I got it back in the garage I tried starting again and no go.

Pretttty annoying considering how simple a starter system is. For now it's on the tender and I'll try starting it again once it's fully charged. I've started this thing a million times in my garage w/out issue.

Weird. If you can start it with the clutch, the engine is obviously fine. If you can jump the solenoid to engage the starter, the starter should be fine too.

Is it possible that the starter cable is just old? That would explain why the jumper cables worked, but jumping the solenoid terminals didn't work. Considering this is your car, I would think it to be new, but figured I would ask just in case it was the original.

Yep, the starter cable is new with no corrosion.

My one coworker was saying that in the past he's had starters on their way out that pulled massive amps and drained the battery fast. Maybe that's a possibility but it should have still started with a jump.

I haven't gotten a chance to crank it over again but I quickly looked at my tender is telling me the battery is fully charged.

Just getting caught up on this, but I'm thinking it's a starter motor brush worn out. Brushes not making contact, or making intermittent contact, the way to verify that is to have a friend hold the ignition in 'start', if the starter doesn't turn then use something to hit the starter motor near the brushes. If it turns after you hit it the brushes just need to be replaced.

MattStrike wrote:Just getting caught up on this, but I'm thinking it's a starter motor brush worn out. Brushes not making contact, or making intermittent contact, the way to verify that is to have a friend hold the ignition in 'start', if the starter doesn't turn then use something to hit the starter motor near the brushes. If it turns after you hit it the brushes just need to be replaced.

I manually did this off car with jumper cables and a power probe on the signal post and it turned over.

With the battery fully charged, it wouldn't crank over. I could hear the solenoid click over but the motor wouldn't turn. I'm thinking it might be a ground issue?

Next thing I'm going to try is taking the new starter off and try to manually crank it over with a battery. I'll also clean up the block/starter mating surfaces.

So the no start thing was a compound problem.

The new starter turned out to be bad. The solenoid would kick over but the motor wouldn't spin. When I went to get another one, the parts counter guy tested the return even though I told him I tested it on 2 different batteries with a power probe. I was a little annoyed because in the time it took him to test the starter I could have went home, tested it again myself and came back. But.. When he got the replacement, he tested that one too. That hit the reset button on my nerves. With the replacement starter in, it still wouldn't crank over.

I was seeing a 1-2v drop from the battery to the starter. Both connections on the power cable looked ok and were smothered in dielectric grease. I replaced the starter connection first, no change.. I ran a jumper cable from the battery to the starter and it finally started. When I took apart the battery connection that looked ok but there was corrosion all inside the wire. Once I replaced that cable, I was good to go.

Here's a part of my engine harness wire tuck. I'm relocating the coils to rear of the engine. From the top, you won't be able to see any spark plug wires. Front or rear. I'll actually be able to reach this from the passenger side too.

The ICM bracket is from an 3800 F-body. I used one threaded hole on the block and one on the trans to mount the assembly.

This location is similar to where GM mounted the 2.8/3.1 MPFI ICM, just on the other side of the engine. I'm not too worried about heat since my headers are ceramic coated. Water should be fine too. It's pretty far up there in relation to the subframe (especially with the engine and trans 1.5" taller than stock). The bracket will be powder coated wrinkle black to match the 6-speed swap brackets.








After I got done this and a couple other little things at my buddy's shop, I picked up the gf and had her get a vid of me rowing through the gears.
https://youtu.be/8EuLcKyuSdI

I would love to see your '95 SLE in person. - BC

There is a special place in car people heaven for people like you.

Let's all just go have a meet to stand around and look at Mike's car.

zuper8 wrote:Let's all just go have a meet to stand around and look at Mike's car.

haha, yes!

if I could make it, I would be there in a heartbeat! - BC

Haha, I appreciate it. It's tough because there's soo many things I still have left to do just to get the point where I was right after I painted it. Some of the bodywork needs a little touch up, the glass has to get pulled to address leaks/corrosion and there's a few scuffs/scratches that need attending to.. Either way, walking up to this car still feels great.

I've always been a fan of get it driveable and let the little things drive you insane so you fix them. That's what I'm trying to do now.
Driving it around I found out my driver's wheel bearing is making noise and once the thermostat opens on the oil cooler circuit and the oil heats up, the oil pressure dips more than I'm comfortable with. The plan is to address these 2 things this up coming weekend, drive it some more and see what else needs attention.

I cleaned up both of my cars today.. Might as well throw both in here.









The engine bay is filthy right now but if you look close you can see all wiring with the exception of the ICM and spark plug wires have been re-routed.




I got the new wheel bearing in but the ZZP oil volume kit I ordered didn't make it in time for my day off.

I am IN LOVE!!!!! What a Bonneville! Should be Car of the Year, jmo. What a great example of craftmanship and ownership. - BC

Thanks!

I got the ZZP oil volume kit in today. I didn't even need to pull the axle completely which was nice. I just pulled the passenger side from the jack shaft till it was loose and that gave me enough wiggle room to get the oil filter adapter out. Before I got it out I noticed that my oil pressure sender was actually dripping oil very slowly from the connector end.. So I replaced that as well.

Between fresh oil, the ZZP kit, and a new sender, the oil pressure was almost 60 psi according to the dash gauge at full temp. Previously at that temp the gauge would hover around 40 psi but dip almost into the red on hard decel, all the while fluctuating a little too. Now it's solid and a good 20psi higher.

I need to get more miles on this to see what other loose ends need tightening up.. I'm happy the only two that popped up on the last ride are sorted out though. Progress.

Sharp looking car!

This car is covered with so much awesome sauce.