I have a 1971 Challenger with a 440 engine.

No problems with the car before having this one. ANY HELP would be
appreciated.

I start the car and take it out for a spin , drive 10 miles and stop. The car sits for about two hours, go to start it --- click click. Now it is turning dark outside and my very first thought was the battery. The battery I have in the car is a Optima and about two years old. Never had to jump it , until now “so I thought”.

Get a second car and cables and try to jumb , click. I scratch my head , put in a new battery – click. So I push the car to start it and head home , put car in garage .

Next day: Check the grounds “and clean”. – click. Check all wiring terminals and clean – click.

The starter I had on there is a MSD Mini Starter about two years old. Take the starter off and bench test it , tested fine. Put starter back on – click , ran ground to the starter tried to start – click.

Replace the relay – clean all connections – click

Buy new starter “Summit mini” install new starter – click

When I turn the ignition switch the starter pinion gears do engage but it will not spin. It acts like it is not getting enough voltage. Jump the relay – click

When I turn the key my volt meter “in the car” reads 8-9 volts.

New: battery , starter , relay
Checked and cleaned: all ground cables , fittings and wiring,.

I am lost.

Positive batt cable quality? terminal to cable, good shape? Pos cable to starter good contact?

I'd put another known good battery in. If good there, one of the large cable/connections is poor

Put a wrench on the eng and make sure it turns over. If it does then you need to do voltage drop testing on the complete starter system. Ron

Cable to battery - to ground good. All ends of cables are good. All contact points where cable meets metal , cleaned.

Bought a new battery , installed . Click
Jumped new battery from a running truck - click

Was able to push start car , removed dust/inspection cover. Looked at starter when key turned , gears make contact to fly whell but does not turn. Looks to me the starter has enough volts to engage but not spin.

I am at witts end. Have a friend who rebuilds Mopars "for a living" he came oper . And we went through every step of the process , check cables, removed the starter , checked relay "replace relay" , checked voltage.......nothing. We checked everything possible , looked for loose connections , bad connections , replace the battery again still the starter just clicks....................

This is making me old

voltage drop testing on the complete starter . I check voltage at the battery 12.44 at the realy 12.44 at the cable that goes to the starter 12.44.

But on the dash , the gauge reads 8-9 volts when the key is turned.

ANY and ALL HELP GEATLY APPRECIATED

To do voltage drop test you have to hook the voltmeter paralell to the circuit. In other words you hook a voltmeter pos lead to the pos battery post and hook the voltmeter neg lead to the starter stud. Then have someone hit the key to start. It should read 1/2 a volt or less. If it reads higher like 3 or 4 volts thats because there is to much resistance in the circuit and the voltage the voltmeter reads is what is not going thru the circuit. Also hook the pos voltmeter lead to the starter housing and then hook the voltmeter neg lead to the battery neg post and let us know what reading you get on theses 2 test. These test voltage drop on the pos and neg circuits of the starter system and the voltage drop test are the best test you can do on it. Ron

what happens if you turn the key on, and cross the terminals at the relay??

The 72 used to NEED a started button in addition to the ignition switch. I replaced the ignition switch, and it starts with the key.

When the ignition switch was bad, it would either:
1) Act like a dead battery...no juice any where
2) Click like a drained battery, even with a known good battery
3) starter would rotate slightly and VERY noisely, then quit altogether



My money is on a bad ignition switch

ck that ignition switch