I need some help trouble shooting an issue.

My 72 would not start ths year, so I thought it was the starter, and I had it rebuilt. My battery was dead as well, so I purchased a new battery. Was the starter build required? good question but lesson learned anyway.

Now with the starter in and a brand new battery, the car started, and stopped as it should. However, something is draining my battery, because when I went back to take it out, it was dead again. I have had the starter in and out several times, and I have made sure that there is a good contact. I noticed that the GEN light stayed on when I recharged the battery. I test started again, and then the car would not turn off with the ignition.

I reversed my wiring on the starter, and it will not turn over again, but I have cabin lights.

I have red and seen that the 20 gauge yellow cable should go to the R terminal on the starter and the Purple 20 gauge cable should go to the S terminal, but when it was like that it would not turn off.

Could the rebuilt starter be wired wrong internally, or is it an ignition issue, that drains the battery?

Any help that you could give would be great. :confused:

Thanks

Test the alt,charge he battery and then start the car with volt meter on the battery,it should read approx 13.5- at min at ilde non loaded and then with motor at like 2500 rpm it should be approx 14-14.5v and loaded with lights and heater motor on at 2500 rpm it should be approx 13.5-14v.

If not your alt or internal volt reg is bad if yout 72 has the stock alt on it.

Also,i believe a bad volt reg in the alt could possibly drian the battery when car is sitting with the motor off too but if its stuck in charge position which would show ok when you check voltage if alt is ok lading you to thing all is ok wityh the alt and interal volt reg but then when motor is off it could be draining the battery being stuck on the charge positon.But as i stated i am not 100% sure if that is the case with volt reg stuck on charge side but i hope Greg will chime in here who i feel is one of our electrical guru's here in t/chevelle,he is very good with the electrical side of things.

If you test the voltage at the battery with motor running and the alt is working ok you could try unhooking all the wires from the alt for a few days to see if the battery stays up,. If it does stay up it's an issue with the alt weather it be a bad volt reg or bad diode pulling the battery down but again Greg would know better then me on the reason why the alt would be pulling the battery down. Make sure the battery is fully charged prior to trying this test of alt wires removed to see if the alt in the problem pulling the battery down.

If it turns out to not be an alt issue then you might have a short somwhere or something like a glove box or underhood/trunk light that could be on all the time draining the battery.

Good luck.

Scott

Thanks Scott for looking and providing some advise. One thing that I can not get out of my mind was when it did start on a full battery, but then would not turn off with the ignition bieing turned off. That I why I keep thinking that it is the ignition some how...

I will try your suggestion

Thanks

Jason disconnect the yellow wire from the R terminal and insulate it with tape. (The other end as it at the coil + terminal and is easier to disconnect there)
Now start the car and see if it will shut off. Post back what happened.

Sorry,i missed the part where you stated the motor would not shut down when key was turned off.

Phil has a good suggestion to diagnose the motor not shutting down so try it out along with checking the voltage at the battery (with fully charged battery) to check the alt out.

And even if the alt checks out ok for vlotage when running as i suggested still try unhooking all the wires from the alt for a few days then reattachiung them to see if the battery stays up on its own which would rule out a stuck volt reg or bad diode and then get back to us with the results of all your testing so we can help direct you for a fix if you cant figure itout on your own after doing these tests.

Scott

Thanks Scott and Phillip for the ideas. I am gone for 10 days so it may take me a while to respond back.

Scott, I did test the battery voltage while running, and it was up to 15.1 with the accessories on. Another thing to note was when I turned off the ignition this time, the car accessories turned off (interior fan motor) but the car kept running.

Thanks Scott for looking and providing some advise. One thing that I can not get out of my mind was when it did start on a full battery, but then would not turn off with the ignition bieing turned off. That I why I keep thinking that it is the ignition some how...

I will try your suggestion

Thanks

are you saying the engine would not turn off or the key was off but still had "GEN/IGN" light on?

I would replace the Regulator or...if you have a "spark box" MSD or similar.

Phillip, I did as you suggested, I removed the R terminal, and the car acted as normal. No Gen lights on the dash before starting, and able to turn off the the car by way of the ignition.

Thanks for the advise, but now does that prove the selinoid is not turning off, and thus continually drawing the power from the battery? How does that affect the igintion, and why is that staying on? Does it have to do with the red 20 gauge cable at the coil? Does that run back to the ignition circuit?

Sorry for the 20 questions, I am a real newbie at this.....

Removing that starter is a real PIA, especially around the trans cooling lines!!

Again thanks for the info

Jason the solenoid could not be engaged all the time or the starter would run all the time and burn up. It could be that the wire on the R terminal was somehow touching the large terminal that the battery cable is attached to and feeding 12v to the coil all the time. That would run your battery down. Check and see if you have voltage on the wire you disconnected with the key off, if so that was the problem.