gazzat
Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2024
- Messages
- 59
- Reaction score
- 9
- Points
- 8
- Age
- 67
- Location
- cecil park
- Members Ride
- ve 3.6L commodore omega automatic
Hello. After just going thru the similar situation my i have come to know that these VE's can be a re PITA. Firstly i am not trying to start any arguments here but i have quite a bit of mechanical and electrical back ground,been in the industry for about 40 years but am now a retired 67 grease monkey but still do repairs but not on a full time basis, just helping out friends and like me pensioners that don't have a lot of money. Anyway enough of that crap. Ok,in my experience things can just crap themselves.Now in the case of your battery you say that you charged it overnight and it showed 12.5-12.6 on your meter, now that looks good but there is what is known as as surface charge and it will/can be higher then the stated 12V battery, trouble is you may or may not know but inside the battery a plates that are covered with lead and acid and it is the acid eating the lead that creates the voltage in the battery,now i'm not saying for accuracy because i don't know what charger you used but if you battery has hardly any lead left it will/can show a charge if you have what is known as buckled plates charging them for too long or by a to higher charge rate can further buckle the plates and if you have buckled plates when you try and start the car the amount of current that the starter requires can actually bend these plates further and do an internal short (like magnets pulling themselves together and if that happens you will have a massive voltage drop), i have seen cars,including my VE start with a voltage as low as 11V but with a new battery,long story but i brought a brand new alternator but failed in less than 30 days (what not charging 1 volt even). I am sorry lout starter motors can just die like that and that is because the brush life has expired and a lot of times there is so much carbon dust and dirt in the brush holder the brushes don't contact the armature and that is why as per the videos above hitting the main body of the starter they can start ,because when you hit them you knock a bit if the carbon dust dirt away allowing that brush to drop down just enough to make contact again, and the best way as Scotty says is if possible have a partner turn the key whilst someone else taps the main body.Ok back up a bit, you said that all you could here was a click, so thats a good sign in respect that when you turn the key the solenoid is being energized but the starter is not rotating,now since the motor is not turning there is 3 things that i can think of that MAY help, 1( your motor has seized (now that would be very unlikely 2(as mentioned your starter has come to its use by date 3( now even though your meter is showing 12.5-12.6 if you have a bad battery when you turn the key that voltage can drop down and usually in increments of around 2 Volts since that's how many volts are in each cell. I have seen batteries showing 12+v on the meter but on starting drop way down to 8-10V because of battery life or as mention buckled plates in the battery.If you can put your meter on the battery and if you can see the meter if not get a partner to look at it and try and start the car and see what voltage the battery drops down to, that will give you a good indication of whats going on,if you absolutely know your battery is good but the meter shows minimal drop or a large drop then that would normally point to the starter or power supply to the starter, minimal drop could be because the starter is not connecting on the inside or a major voltage drop could be because of a short happening inside, either brushes or the armature will be really worn. I know this is a long bedtime story but i like to help and be precise were possible.cheers Garry
