74 Cutlass with starting problem

"Amanda Robin" > wrote in message
...
> I drive as my primary car a 1974 Olds Cutlass. I am only the second
> owner and it has 66,000 miles on it. It had less than 40,000 on it when
> I got it a few years ago. It is the envy of many young people in my
> town!
>
> Anyway, it has developed an intermittent starting problem. About 5
> times now over 3 months it has failed to start. When I turn the key,
> the dash lights up and I am obviously getting power from the battery.
> (The battery is new.) But nothing else happens. Not even a click from
> the starter. After some time passes, between 5 minutes and a couple of
> hours, it will start again. The only thing I've noticed in common with
> the situations in which it won't start is that it has always been
> driven within 1-3 hours. It always starts in the morning or when it has
> sat longer. I don't think it is weather related, as our summer
> (southeast US) has been inordinately cool.
>
> Two different mechanics have looked at it and tried to get it to fail,
> and of course it won't. I've been told it could be anything between the
> ignition, wiring, and starter, and both are reluctant to do
> investigatory work.
>
> It currently does appear to have a wiring problem; when I turn on the
> headlights, the arrow in the dashboard for the left turn signal lights
> up and stays lit, and the turn signal doesn't work. It isn't the bulb.
> It is only because of this problem that the second mechanic has agreed
> to look at the situation, in case the problems are related.
>
> I may be at the point where I have to pay for them to start switching
> out parts. I don't have complete records on the car's history. My
> question is, what is statistically the most likely part in this area to
> have failed on this 30 year old car?
>
> Thanks for any tips,
>
> Amanda
Hey, Amanda. When it fails next time, put it in neutral gear selection
& see if it starts there. If it does, may be bad neutral safety switch,
easy & cheap repair. HTH & good luck, s

Hi Amanda,

For my two cents.......

Other common intermittant starting problems are worn starter motor
brushes or burned starter solenoid contacts, which can be effected by
vibration or temperature. An old trick to test this when the starter
motor will not turn over is to lightly tap the starter motor with a
small hammer which tends to "reseat" the brushes. A bad ground
connection can also cause this, so besure all the high current
electrical connections are clean and making good contact.

There is a simple troubleshooting guide in Section 17 of the Car and
Deep Cycle Battery FAQ on www.batteryfaq.org.

Kindest regards,

BiLL.......

On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 03:45:49 -0400, "sdlomi2"
> wrote:

>
>"Amanda Robin" > wrote in message
...
>> I drive as my primary car a 1974 Olds Cutlass. I am only the second
>> owner and it has 66,000 miles on it. It had less than 40,000 on it when
>> I got it a few years ago. It is the envy of many young people in my
>> town!
>>
>> Anyway, it has developed an intermittent starting problem. About 5
>> times now over 3 months it has failed to start. When I turn the key,
>> the dash lights up and I am obviously getting power from the battery.
>> (The battery is new.) But nothing else happens. Not even a click from
>> the starter. After some time passes, between 5 minutes and a couple of
>> hours, it will start again. The only thing I've noticed in common with
>> the situations in which it won't start is that it has always been
>> driven within 1-3 hours. It always starts in the morning or when it has
>> sat longer. I don't think it is weather related, as our summer
>> (southeast US) has been inordinately cool.
>>
>> Two different mechanics have looked at it and tried to get it to fail,
>> and of course it won't. I've been told it could be anything between the
>> ignition, wiring, and starter, and both are reluctant to do
>> investigatory work.
>>
>> It currently does appear to have a wiring problem; when I turn on the
>> headlights, the arrow in the dashboard for the left turn signal lights
>> up and stays lit, and the turn signal doesn't work. It isn't the bulb.
>> It is only because of this problem that the second mechanic has agreed
>> to look at the situation, in case the problems are related.
>>
>> I may be at the point where I have to pay for them to start switching
>> out parts. I don't have complete records on the car's history. My
>> question is, what is statistically the most likely part in this area to
>> have failed on this 30 year old car?
>>
>> Thanks for any tips,
>>
>> Amanda
> Hey, Amanda. When it fails next time, put it in neutral gear selection
>& see if it starts there. If it does, may be bad neutral safety switch,
>easy & cheap repair. HTH & good luck, s
>

Amanda, I have the same starting problem with my '74 Cutlass Salon. I also
have turn signal problems, so maybe they are somehow strangely related. My
starting problem is identical to yours in every respect. The only thing I
can add is that I can hear a muted whirring sound whose pitch rises and
falls before disappearing when the key is turned. The signal problem is
slightly different. My signals either blink fine, blink slowly, or don't
blink at all where the light just comes on and stays on. Never know what
I'm gonna get with the signals. It's mostly the right, but the left
signal acts up on occasion. Has your car been fixed? I'd really
appreciate knowing the outcome!