Starter cranking slow

[01civy]

I replaced the battery, starter and the main power cable going to the starter on my 1989 accord. After all that great money spending, i found out that if i use a jumper cable from the battery to the starter solinoid (the small wire that goes from the ignition key lock to the starter) it cranks over just fine.

Has any one had this problem before?

[Dr_Snooz]

What condition are your ground wires in? Are the battery wires getting hot when you crank the starter? How do the battery cables and connectors look?

[01civy]

The ground cable is ok. Just to rule it out, i used a set of jumper cables ( big ones, not like the little alligator clips ones used before to 'jump' the starter) and grounded the engine block. So im pretty sure it isnt a bad ground.

I will check to see if the cables get hot when cranked.

The terminal clamps on the battery are new, they are not crusty.

Yesterday, i got my hands on a volt meter and checked the voltage at the solenoid side of the wire. It got 11.8 volts. Checked the same wire at the ignition lock and it was recieving 12.o volts. Checked the battery, it was putting out 12.4 volts.

I cant imagine the .2 of a voltage drop would cause this problem.

[Dr_Snooz]

Your battery is low. It should be putting out closer to 12.7V at rest. You have a sizable voltage drop between the battery and the starter. That is usually caused by too much resistance in the wire. I know you have a new battery clamp on the wire, but how old is the wire itself? When you replaced the clamp, did you cut off some of the existing wire to ensure that there was no corrosion inside? What does the connection at the starter look like? If there is corrosion, that will cause a voltage drop and a slow start. You should probably change the battery cables, especially if excessive corrosion was the reason you replaced the clamp on the old wires. Wire brush all connections so they are good and clean, then dab some dielectric grease on them before putting them together. Then smear more grease over top of them to seal out moisture.

I'm not sure what you mean by "ignition lock" but again, you're getting a big voltage drop, indicating more resistance/corrosion.

Let us know if you still have problems.

[2ndGenPreludeSi]

Yeah, instead of measuring voltage at the solenoid. You might get results by using the voltmeter in parallel, while cranking... Do it at every connection. Positive post to positive terminal. Positive terminal to starter solenoid, ect. Do it on the negative side too. Anything over like 0.5v is too much..