My 37 with a 96 Dodge 360 has a new electrical issue. Has a

My 37 Plymouth with a 96 Dodge 360 has a new electrical issue. Has a new battery and new starter within the past month.

Drove the car last Thursday to runs some errands and it started several times and ran fine. Went out to drive it yesterday and when I turned the key the fans and dash light came on (both currently wired to run constantly) and fuel pump kicked on, but got the click-click-click from the starter like the battery was dead. Then about two seconds later nothing no fans, lights or fuel pump and nothing from the starter when key turned to the start position. Wait for a couple minutes and the entire process would repeat.

Threw some jumper cables on it and left my wife's car running for several minutes. Same thing turn key on get fans, lights, pump, click-click-click then everything goes dead. Wait a couple minutes and process repeats.

I'm an electrical neophyte I know everyone who understands it says to think of it just like a garden hose current in one end of the wire out the other, but I just can't wrap my head around it. No problem tearing into anything mechanical, but electrical has always given me pause cause I don't want to burn it to the ground.

Any ideas where I should start to try and run down this problem?

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Check all the battery connections and grounds. Sounds like something is loose, corroded or otherwise not making good contact.

what are you using for battery cable ends ? i have seen more trouble over the years when guys use those cheap, bolt on ends, than you can imagine. doesn't take much for corrosion to set in [even if you can't see it], and they also don't offer much of a contact area for the cable.

So just thinking out loud here (scary thought). When checking things out first disconnect the battery and make sure it is fully charged, if it isn't it will be much harder to find the problem. The rad cooling fans run all the time the key is on, that's a little weird?

Load test the battery.

Gotta agree here.

Biggest load on the battery is starting the engine, so if the battery starts to go that is the first place you will see it have issues.

Simple test, if you have a meter, hook it up to the battery and see what it's no load voltage is. 12,8 or so is what you want to see. Then with the meter still attached have someone try to start is and see what the load voltage is then. Bet it virtually goes away.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. It was indeed a bad ground.

I replaced the negative battery cable with a 2Awg cable and got a good ground to the frame this morning before church. It has been so danged hot here in Dallas that I had to get on it at like 6:30 to beat the heat. Anyway once I got everything buttoned up, it fired as soon as I turned the key.

Also bought a couple of ground straps that I will be using to ground the engine block and body to the frame once I get back from a business trip. Then I will be replacing the positive battery cable. I just need to buy the cable and ends to run it from the trunk to the starter. Will also add a battery box at the same time since the battery is currently just held in by a not so sturdy homemade strap.

Once that is done I will add a thermostat control to the fans to keep them from running constantly.

Well my starting woes have returned. I have replaced both battery cables, added grounds from block to frame / body to frame and a new starter switch. Things were good for a couple weeks then this week it came back.

Luckily for me it has only happened in the driveway not when I was out somewhere with one exception. That one time it did happen out somewhere was Wednesday. Checked the battery cables, and the wires to the starter. The wire on the "S" post was loose. Moved it slightly and it started and made it home.

Went out to start it the next day and nothing. Pulled the wires off the starter and noticed that the "S" post was loose. Ran the nut back down on the post and it would not tighten it just continued to turn once the nut was turned. That should not happen should it?

This is a brand new starter with a lifetime warranty so other than the hassle of pulling it off and taking it back for the replacement not a big deal.

pull the end plate off and look at where the stud passes through the case. be careful, as the cover is spring loaded, and covers the contactor set [that most likely is not the correct name, but i have always called them that] that actuates the starter when you supply 12v to the small post. think of it as a relay setup. you should see a bolt head with an eyelet attached to a wire going into the guts of the starter. if so, tightening that bolt [with the outside nut] will tighten that stud, and you should be back in business. just be careful you don't crack the isolator bushing.
however, if you find the wire going into the guts has been soldered to that stud, and has broken off from spinning the stud, it's time to put it back together and return to the parts store.
it sounds lots harder than it really is. hope this helps.

Went out this morning to make another run at it and as I tried to remove the nut from the S post, the entire post came off the starter. Pulled the starter took it to O'Reilly and they replaced it under warranty. Put the new starter on and it fired immediately.

Now, I have been at this point before where I though I had solved the issue so I'm hoping that this time it is ACTUALLY solved.

Defective new parts are a real problem these days. It is irritating at best, to deal with changing parts only to find the new parts you just put on are not any better then the old parts you were replacing.

I bet if the parts stores would have to cover your labor expenses every time you had to replace defective new parts, the quality of the new parts would improve dramatically real quickly. Gene

amen to that ! never happen though, unfortunately. hk, glad the replacement starter did the trick, and hopefully, for good this time.