Hard Starting Hot Big Block

EDIT.........AFTER doing what Steve said above (OldmanMopar)

The FIRST thing you must do is to determine whether the 1...battery is defective, whether the 2...starter is drawing over-amps and pulling the battery down, or whether it is 3...simply voltage drop.

EG Voltage drop measurements will not tell you anything if EITHER of the other conditions exist. IE if the starter is defective and dragging, etc, it will exhibit system voltage drop, as well as low battery voltage


You need to get/ borrow a legit carbon pile load tester, like one of these.

You can test both starter draw as well as get an idea of battery capacity. "Generally" you start with a fully charged battery. You must have the problem acting up, in other words engine hot, then crank, or try to crank the engine for 10 seconds while reading the voltmeter on the tester.

Next you crank in resistance until the voltmeter pulls down and reads the same as the starter pull read. At that point the ammeter on the instrument will tell you the starter draw.

Conversely, you can load test the battery and also get an idea of how it's doing. Again, you MUST start with the battery fully charged.

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So the tester I have is the old school resistant type tester (where you hold a switch on the bottom for 10 seconds and watch the gauge to see where it falls). I also used a larger group size battery for testing from my 04 Ram SRT10 and saw no difference. I don't have an ammeter, I have a volt gauge (all new wiring on this whole car. With a volt meter I get 12.8 at the battery and 12.7 up at the front. 1 wire power master 130 amp alternator and I'm seeing 13.3ish on the volt meter when driving (dial style autometer gauge plus driving so not like I'm able to check down the tenth of an amp in that situation).