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i cant start my luv anymore, it is acting like i have a dead battery. after putting in the engine, i was able to get it started, it ran rough and didnt idle. i got ahold of a timing light and went to start it, it ran rough and died, when i went to start it up again it wouldnt crank. the starter would make a click and the engine would barly move. ive tried 5 diff batteries, 2 of which were new the other 3 were re charged. ive chnged the starter with a spare i had and still the same problem.
guys n gurls i need your help!!!
thanks in advance, noyz

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I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

Ok need to ask and Im sure you did but did you check your ground may not be tight

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My old but now gone Luv...

its tight, but since my battery is behind the cab does it make much difference being up the back?

ive had to put major changes on hold for a week or two as i got a bit of metal in my eye off the grinder. the things i go through for this luv! lol

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I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

Noyz, If I remember right you put in a 4cyl, right? Did you pull the dist. out at all. I kinda went through the same thing and my dist. was 180 out.

See if you can put a socket on the crank pully and manually turn the motor, just to see if it's turning free, or if it's. . .siezed.

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Richard Barnes Salt Lake, Utah
1980 Luv Mikado 4X4
http://geocities.com/luvtruck2004/

Noyz,

You got some sound advice. But returning to you grounds, Did you relocate you battery to the back recently? The primary ground wire must be directly connected (bolted) to the engine. The starter will draw over 100 amps while cranking. I seen some make the battery connection to the frame which causes a lot of problems due to high resistance back to starter

Sounds like some good advice. I have my battery in the box too. And my ground cable goes to my frame, can't remember what bolt, but its on the frame. Now this "high resistance" sounds like some serious stuff, but im confused as to what it means. Does it have potentially damaging effects to the starter?? If so, I better get my ass in gear and change my ground cables around...My LUV has a SBC BTW.

SmokingLuv,

You may be able to get a "good" ground from the frame but it is not guarrenteed, normally there are two ground connections to the negative battery post , one is to the engine and the other is to the frame. The wire to the engine is about (or should be) the size of the primary lead to the starter. As I first mention it has to be able to carry they cranking amps during starting. The second ground connection to the frame can be much smaller since it is engineered to handle accessories and lights.

If the ground is relocated to the frame it may or may not have a good path to the starter. Most motors "float" on the engine compartment, positioned held by rubber motor mounts and tranny mounts not directly bolted to the frame. Any DC return current from the engine will use any available path if the primary path was altered. It may work for a while but will cause problems in the long run.

Check your setup that the battery ground is bolted to the frame on clean bare metal and protected with some kind of anti-corrosive grease (sold at most auto stores). Secondly, check that your engine is also grounded to the frame with the SAME size cable, also protected with the anti-corrsive grease.

This will kept things working.

Thanks Kaneguy!

I haven't had any problems whatsoever so far. But if I switch this around, it will prevent any problems in the future, hopefully. Currently I have solid motor mounts (no rubber, twists the frame waaaay more then it should ) This is probably why I have a good connection. It simulates being hooked up to the engine. But when I get time I am gonna build some rubber mounted ones and put them instead. So this is good info. Thanks again!

at the moment my ground goes straight to the frame at the back, so are you saying i should bolt it to the engine instead or run another wire from the fram to the engine?

_________________
I said no to drugs....But they just wouldn't listen!

No matter how good she looks, some other guy is sick and tired of putting up with her crap!

Somewhere in the existing ground wire you have to the frame, make an electrical "T" and run the same heavy guage wire up front and hook it to the engine or tranny. That'll eliminate any electrical bottleneck that could reduce the amperes the starter needs to draw from the battery to crank the engine.