problem from the cold?

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no1newb

no1newb

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last Saturday i took the barracuda out for a spin. it died after being on for about 10-15 min. i was at a turn and it just stopped. i eventually got help and i think it was the choke cutting off the air too much. but now i started it in the driveway today and cleaned the choke with carb and choke cleaner. and it just shut off. i know if some carb cleaner got in the intake it would stutter for a sec, which it did, but i dont think i got enough in it to make it just die. i just let it be and went to school after that. now the starter is barely moving and after 2 or 3 cranks the starter relay just starts clicking and nothing happens. i dont know where id be loosing power and why it would happen that quickly. is there a power problem or power leak somewhere that could have happens?

oh yeah, and both days the temp was in the mid to upper 20's maybe low 30's
 
i got the battery last summer. what could have happened to it? but my dad said the same a couple months ago, there are times when its fine and times when its not. would it flux back and forth like that?
 
I don't know. Start checking connections (remove, clean and reattach). Have your charging system tested.

How often do you drive the car? A battery that sits, unused in a car can take a beating.

Or I could be on the wrong track all together…….
 
checked the connections. i drive it when weather allows me. battery didnt sit for too long. last time i had my charging system checked was last summer as well. how can i check that without taking it to autozone? lol
 
From my experience….. If the starter cranks slow then clicks you have a bad battery (its not charging or is actually bad) or you have a bad connection.

When I say check connections I mean all connections related to the charging and starting system.
 
its possible you have several small unconnected problems
stalling could be do to
1 cold weather
2 oxygenated fuel (they add alcohol in the winter)
3 dirty sticking choke

battery problem could be
1 bad battery ( I have had brand new ones go bad in a few months)
2 bad connections sometimes they look fine but are not, take the wires off the battery terminals and really clean them well with a wire brush then put them back on tight
3 battery could just be low from not driving enough, it can take up to 15 or 20 minutes of driving to recharge the battery after each time you start it up, put it on a charger until its fully charged

bad charging system
1 check alternator and regulator
2 check for loose or dirty connections
 
Some times my Dart does this. Try cleaning the battery termanals. Thats usualy my problem any way.
 
Weak charging system ? Do the headlights dim with rpm ? Turn signals blink slower when light and heater blower are on ?
Everything else functions fine except the engine. You are loosing power to the ignition only ?
 
I had a battery years ago that did somewhat intermittent silly things. It turned out that some of the plates inside the battery had shaken slightly loose somehow (vibration damage) and would occasionally cause an internal short. Something to consider after checking all connections and such.
 
clean ALL connections at the battery, and the ground, and on the solenoid.... (follow your large wires from both terminals on the battery and clean both ends... and what they connect to).

Battery needs to be fully charged to test properly...

check voltage at the battery with nothing on... should be a bit over 12 volts. (maybe up to 12.5). Then turn on headlights, ignition, heater on full, and see what it drops to... that is putting a bit of a load on it, it should stay at 11.5 or so....

then turn everything else off and start it, watching the voltage... it should go up to 13.5-15 volts when running....


BTW, Autozone should check your battery free, especially if you bought it there...
 
Don't forget the cables as well as the connections. Battery cables can corrode under the insulation (turn green) and cause large voltage drops from high resistance especially when the weather turns hot or cold. As mention before the battery could have gone bad as well but take it back to point of purchase for a test.
 
Yeah its a duralast and those have life time warranties so that's what I'm prayin for
 
Yeah its a duralast and those have life time warranties so that's what I'm prayin for
 
Sounds like charging system to me. The battery finally ran down far enough that there wasn't enough juice to run the ignition. It doesn't take much on a point type system but electronic needs a good supply. Let us know what you find!
Thanks, Mark
 
The battery ended up bein fine, so It might be dead from starting it and it dying on me the first 5 min. I don't know, I will start following wires when I can, may be a week though
 
i am hate to say it, but my only problem as far as i know is the butterfly valves probably weren't set up properly. in my defense i havent been messing with cars for more than a year, and this is my first car, not to mention carborator. i have had little to no help from family and learnin it as i go, so yeah. i also sprayed the carborator down a lot with carb and choke cleaner. mabe that helped too.
 
keep at it. my dart is only my second project car and I started from ground zero. At least you aren' trying to learn on a honda. winter is not a good time to start fiddling with your ride, you will have to do it all over again when the weather warms up. thats the breaks of having a hot rod they need constant tinkering but the payoff is being able to drive it.
Do you have a shop manual? its a necessity for any older car, it will make your life so much easier.
-Tim
 
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