Thought my troubles were over! Cranking with hesitation

[Boom]

If you do go in to autozone to warranty the battery don't mention any electrical issues. Just say that you need this battery tested as the car doesn't start well. They may try and weasel out of a warranty claim saying your car is to fault.

[sdmustangrider]

Yea. I got away last time by saying I had an amp in there. The guy let me exchange still so I learned my lesson. LoL

[4mustangs]

Originally Posted by GT289

I actually worked in the automotive battery industry for both ACDelco
and Douglas Battery in the mid-90's until early 2002.
Among other things, I did battery autopsy at the manufacturing level
to determine root cause of failure. I've seen all kinds of stuff including
batteries built backwards internally, batteries charged backwards, etc.
Nothing really surprises me about lead acid batteries.

You can't check the individual cells in most batteries anymore, but they
put out a particular charge when their specific gravity is a particular
number..... that's the simplest way of looking at it. If the specific gravity
is messed up, that cell is messed up and you get less oomph out of
the battery. If the lead grid in a cell(s) is messed up you get a similar
situation. Etc, etc.

It's very possible you have problems inside your battery. A load test
will pretty much give you a bottom line answer.

sdmustangrider said he didn't drive it much for about a year, like most people he might not have kept it charged. How about explaining what happens when you let a battery sit too long with out charging.

P.S. Fifty years working with electricity and I never saw a spec for "oomph". Is that a new term? (couldn't find an icon for tongue in cheek)

[Markh]

Originally Posted by Franks68coupe

Great point... what are you set at?

The initial on my 289 is 12-deg BTDC or so and it cranks fine, but every engine is going to be different based on CR and other variables. My 5.0 with higher compression is set about the same (12-deg) and it actaully does crank a bit harder/slower.

It probably is a battery issue, but I was just suggesting he back-off several degrees from whereever its set, give it a "spin", and see if there's any difference. Just a shot in the dark...

[ScottsGT]

Or just unhook the coil wire when it's giving you problems and see if it spins faster.

[cornholio]

Does it primarily have the starting issues when it has been running for a awhile. A quick stop, and then start back up 5-10 minutes later while hot? Or does it also do it on a cold start?

[Kenster]

Sound like my car recently. Starter was bad, which ended up melting my cables and frying two solenoids.
Have your battery AND starter checked.
If you replace the starter go ahead and pick up Motorcraft
Solenoid and be done with it.

[sdmustangrider]

I just got done changing out my fuel sending unit. Not fun but took an hour. I did start it up twice and it started up with no issues. Started up smooth. I know having the electrical issues, etc not sure if its possible to kill cells in it?? Thought someone said something about that. But weird. Had no issues starting it up this morning.

[cornholio]

The reason I asked if you have issues only during hot starts is that sometimes people, including me, have had issues like yours is because the header passes too close to the starter... subsequently after a drive the starter gets too hot / will have issues turning over. obviously this is not your problem if it also has the problems on cold starts...

i solved the problem once before by placing header wrap around the section of header that passed near starter... problem on that car was solved.

just a thought since you have covered so much already.

[GT289]

Originally Posted by 4mustangs

sdmustangrider said he didn't drive it much for about a year, like most people he might not have kept it charged. How about explaining what happens when you let a battery sit too long with out charging.

P.S. Fifty years working with electricity and I never saw a spec for "oomph". Is that a new term? (couldn't find an icon for tongue in cheek)

Although you do get sulfation in batteries from normal use, a good charging
system or a charging maintenance program keeps it in check.
With a wet cell battery, just letting it sit and do absolutely nothing with it will lead
to sulfation that you might not be able to reverse. (hardened sulfate that has
accumulated on the negative plates and low specific gravity) These sulfated deposits
inhibit the chemical process of generating power. (movement of electrons between
the plates)
On my Optima that was unused for years, it probably had become hard sulfated and
bringing her back from that wasn't going to happen. Only other possibility was
death from heat......electrolytic paste was totally dried up, but it's hard to say,
I didn't cut the battery apart.

[putz]

I think it's the solenoid

[sdmustangrider]

I might as well change my starter, battery, and solenoid to eliminate everything! Besides those, everything such as the harnesses in the engine bay are all new too.