Odd Starter Problem When Hot

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Nov 29, 2008 | 09:53 PM

#31

bugaschmoo1

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Joined: Nov 2008

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Quote:

Originally Posted by nitrogen

DO NOT attach an ohmmeter to live circuit, this lets the smoke out of the meter,the meter does not work without smoke, the smoke is very hard to put back in. your meter won't register anything until you crank the engine.this test is for high amperage situation, i.e starter cables. what you are measuring is the difference in voltage at battery post v.s voltage at starter. ohmmeters work well for apps where you have low amperage and high resistance ie thousands of ohms . high resistance in a battery cable,cable end, or the connection would be measured in a small fraction of 1 ohm.
there is a formula that explains this V=IR, where V is voltage I is the amperage and R is the resistance. as an example if you have a starter draw of 600 amps and a resistance of .0006 you would show a voltage loss in the cables of .4 volt now if the resistance goes up to .005 your voltage drop becomes 3 volts, good luck getting that puppy to even click never mind start. how many ohmmeters read down to .0006, prob none, how many read til 10k ohms, just about all

Thanks for the detailed info, and guidance. Beings that their are two ground cables, another cable from battery to battery, and a cable to the starter this will be very helpful so I can troubleshoot where the problem is and not need to replace working parts. Also, I have been a long time member of another not to be named here ford diesel site, and got no where near the educated responses this site brought. This site kicks tail!! Thanks for your time to give your educated input to help me track down my issue.