So, I had a no start condition while I was at a gas station this past weekend. Tapped the alternator and starter with a hammer and it started. Got it home and no start again. Tapped just the starter and it fired up. I got a new Interstate 4 year battery and an Advance reman starter. Put it in and turned it over. It turned over quite slowly before starting. Slower than it did with prior starter. Tried again and same thing. Asked brother in law to come over and listen, hes pretty good with older cars, and it turned over quickly and sounded like I thought it should! Today, back to slooow turnover. I've read other posts on this and will check grounds and such but why would it spin slow, then fast? I didn't even move it out of the drive way after it spun quickly! Thanks for advice.

 

Start by cleaning ALL of the grounding points. Not just the battery but all of them. That would by both battery terminals, battery to fender, oil dip stick, rear of the head to the firewall, at the coil, also make sure that the mounting area from the starter to the engine block since that is the ground for the starter. Give them all a good cleaning with a wire brush or sand paper to make the nice and shinny. Let use know if it helps. If not we can go from there. If one of those ground points are dirty it can cause a lot of problems.

 

Thanks, I will do this weekend and give results.

 

Id return starter if cleaning cables don't work.

 

I agree, I've heard horror stories about reman starters and alternators from auto parts stores. I usually have my starter/alternator shop rebuild but he is across town and of course this happened when I couldn't get over there. I will let everybody know if its faulty.

 

Some basic voltage testing is in order. With the key in the ON position, test voltage at the starter itself. You should have approximately the same voltage as you measure at the battery. If you have much less, the cable leading to the starter is suspect; if that cable is bad you can have intermittent voltage drop to your starter and therefore intermittent starting issues.

But absolutely, positively FRESHEN all engine grounds!
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Grounds can be the root cause of many electrical gremlins. Refreshing grounds is NEVER a bad idea, and the investment of your time in this procedure is always well worth it!

You can't tell much of anything by looking at ground connections!! You must remove, scrape, clean until shiny the cable/wire ends and whatever they bolt to. Be sure to remove all paint from any ground connections.

Start with the one on the back corner of the head, and where it attaches to the firewall, as it deteriorates over time and is an area that makes it susceptible to damage. Best to replace that woven cable with a #4 or #2 gauge cable. You can attach the one end to the intake manifold if you would like.

Next go over to the engine dipstick tube stud. Remove the nut and clean the wire ends and scrape the block until shiny at the stud. Reattach tightly.

If you are so inclined, add at least a #6 cable from the negative terminal of your battery to one of the bolts on your radiator support.

 

I suspect one or more of your main battery wires are corroded inside. This will cause a voltage drop, sometimes intermittently.

Where you sourced your parts are definitely not my favorite places or items to get.

Cleaning grounds is cheap. But if you get new cables, and I suspect you need them, get the best that O'Reilly's or Napa has.

 

Sorry for slow response. Just got around to swapping starter yesterday. This is not my daily driver so it wasn't imperative to fix. My battery died over the weekend and I can only relate it to the starter. Its a two month old Interstate battery and cost over a hundred dollars. I went to Advance and swapped my "ToughOne" remanufactured starter and the new one works like a champ.Starts fast with no drag. Long story short, if you opt for one of these parts don't be afraid to take it back if it doesn't perform!! Thank you all who replied and helped me.

 

I think there still might be an issue, since you had intermittent good starts and slow starts alternating. Your battery died you say...you mean its lost its charge?
If so you might actually have a parasitic drain going on. If voltage drop present between battery and starter (check this), the cable could still be the cause.

so, if your slow starts return, I'd go with checking the above (and aforementioned)