VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Starting problems. 1936 engine

I drove my 33 chevy (36 engine) in a parade for the first time. A lot of idling and started a few times. Never overheated. At the end I pulled over and turned it off for about 15 minutes. The starter had a rough time turning the engine over fast enough to restart. Eventually the battery gave up. We push started and it fired up immediately. I have had this problem before after a long drive. Is my starter weak, battery week or both?

Krugerbenz
Try the easy stuff first, check all electric connections (including ground) between battery and starter motor are clean, the cables are not frayed and have lots of wire in them. If that all comes up good then do a "load test" on the battery.
The last thing is pull the starter and check it internally or take it to your friendly auto electrician.
Tony

Change your points lately?

Here is the solution:

a. Go get a good new battery. Something like Interstate. The costiler the better. The price between a good one and a poor one is chump change.

B. Take the starter off. Put a new one on or take it apart and sand the commetater and install new brushes. See if the armature is dragging by looking at the fields and the bushings. If so replace the bushings.

c. Get a new set of points and condenser.

d. Clean the spark plugs or put in new ones.

e. Always park on a 10 degree slope or take a JNC booster with you. With everything but the ignition off, it will spin that old sucker and not hurt anything. It it catches on fire, throw gasoline on it so that its demise is realized quickly. Then go buy yourself a 41. Something of which you can be proud. No more enlisting bystanders to help push it. Embarassing.

f. Skip the parades. Always drive, if you have to, without stopping anywhere. Make the stop once you have it back home.

g. Owing to the no overheat whilst right pocking along in a parade means there is something wrong with the cooling system or the temp needle. Quit driving the car. Just look at it now and only now and then to see if its still there.

Follow TonyW's advice and you'll be chasing you tail. Do a load test? Really. (Does Roo really taste just like chicken? Hmmm)

You're welcome.

Charlie

We have a 40 that has always been hard to start. Changed the cables to 00 and it helped some. I bought a 6 volt optima and it can sit for 2 months and after getting gas up to the carb will start every time. Since it is visible with the hood open I bought one of the cases that it sits in and a Delco sticker for it. If you just looked at it you would not know it is a modern battery. I think it has 800 cca. A little spendy but we are not getting stuck with a dead battery anymore.

These are all good ideas except for the throwing gasoline on it one. Thanks anyway. One other thought is that the head has been milled several times I think and the compression may be a bit higher now than original.

The bit higher compression should have little effect on the cranking power of your starter. Put your headlights on and try starting and if they go very dim and the starter barely turns then the starter is drawing too much current and needs rebuilding.

I was just kidding about most of the ad lib stuff, most especially the gasoline part.

Hope you get it fixed soon.

Best,
Charlie

Merry Christmas to all and my your Chevy's always start.

Most of my starting problems have been timing and points. As it sets in the gauge several weeks before starts the points do not get a lot of work and tend to corrode. Make sure you are +10 on your octane selector knob. That also makes for easy starts. I use to stay at +5 to +7 but +10 does make a difference in starting.

You can prove it is the points by using a volt ohm meter at the end of the plug wire. Compare the readings all should be the same DC voltage.