This is topic Battery relocation help! in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by CA FiveOh (Member # 7429) on :
 
Hey there, I recently installed a ProCharger P1SC on my 91 LX and since the head unit gets mounted on the driver side I decided to mount the battery in the trunk instead of going with ProChargers idea.
Here's the problem I am running into. In the morning when the engine is cold, the car cranks over real good and starts right up. After I run the car for a while and everything gets to operating temps, if I stop at a store and turn the car off, when I go to restart it barely wants to crank over. Most the time it will not crank fast enough to start, but if I let it sit for 20-30 minutes to cool off it will crank and start.
Here's some numbers I pulled with my voltmeter. Before starting the car, battery voltage is at 12.7V. Once I start the car and everything is warm and car idling @ approx 775 rpm, battery voltage is at 14.2. To me this does not indicate any kind of charging problem as at first I was wondering if I should upgrade to a 3G with a heavier gauge charging wire. As far as grounds go, I have the battery grounded in the back of the car to the frame. I also grounded the engine block from the original point to the swaybar bracket. I was going to run the engine block ground all the way back to the battery ground point, but the price of copper wire is outrageous right now!
So any ideas? Could this just be a symptom of a starter that's going bad? I don't want to just start replacing my starter and then have it do the same thing! Has anyone else had this problem, and if so what was done to fix it? Please help as it sucks not being able to make any quick stops in the car for fear that I'll come out and it won't crank over!

Thanks,
Kyle
 
Posted by Dag302 (Member # 4682) on :
 
Could the starter be getting to hot? I know they have those wraps to put around your starter. Let me know if you want to try one. I have one laying around my garage. You spoke to my brother about this problem at APS in Fairfield the other day.
 
Posted by CA FiveOh (Member # 7429) on :
 
Thanks for the response. It's possible the starter is getting too hot, but I didn't have this problem before. The only changes I made were the battery relocation and the ProCharger. I don't know if adding boost makes the EGT's higher, which in turn would make my starter get hotter than normal. It's definitely a possibility though. I'd give it a try, though, as that route would still be a lot cheaper than buying a new starter!
 
Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 
what part of the car is your battery grounded to in the trunk?

I grounded mine to one of the quad-shock mounting bolts on the subframe rail and have never had a problem.
 
Posted by 1968_Fastback (Member # 1482) on :
 
My dad's 98 Cobra did the same thing i believe. You need to get the car tuned, make sure the battery has a good charge too from having it disconnected when you were installing the procharger.

I just ordered a battery box for my 5.0L, its good to know i can ground the battery to the strut.

[ February 12, 2007, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: 1968_Fastback ]
 
Posted by sic5pointSLOW (Member # 4347) on :
 
i had this problem when i relocated on my 70 mustang. i changed so many things, it turned out to be grounds. i got a ground running from my starter to the frame. then the battery is grounded to the frame under by the trunk. i thought i had the grounds right the first time and changed starter this that, it really just turned out to be the grounds.
 




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