Is my starter drawing to many amps?

[joegreen]

I have a mid 70s winnebago on a Dodge cb300 chassis. It has a 360ci engine. The engine is turning over slowly. The battery is new and resting voltage is around 12.8v. when cranking voltage drops to 11+v volts and quickly recovers to 12.5v when stopping cranking. I checked the amp draw of the starter with my amp clamp and it's drawing 375-400+ amps when cranking over slowly. That number seems awfully high to me. Does it sound like my starter is bad?

 

[Chris142]

Sounds real high to me.

 

[ragtoplvr]

That is kinda high. That is a Chrysler gear reduction starter, and they do not crank the engine fast anyway. They would however crank a stubborn high compression 440 in the winter. fast enough to start.

Rod

 

[Rob_Roy]

Originally Posted by Chris142
Sounds real high to me.


x2. Assuming all of the connections check out good (including engine/chassis/battery grounds) I would replace the starter.

 

[Eddie]

+1 check all high current grounds first.

 

[user52165]

What gauge are the cables? Most are barely minimum. Increasing to a 2 or o gauge with a new starter should work better. No experience with Mopar, but replaced many SBC with high torque gear reduction types.

 

[joegreen]

I broke the main cable stud on the starter so it will be getting a new starter regardless if it needs one.

 

[Eddie]

+ a new HD cable I hope. Ed

 

[oldhp]

Make sure your grounds are good and clean connections too. Battery to engine.....Engine to cab.....Battery to frame.

 

[Dave9]

No need to replace the cable if the starter is bad, it can wait. If it were the cable involved too, the amps would be lower rather than higher than expected.

On the other hand, considering the vehicle age, sure i'd take a close look at the cable and if it needs replaced, go for a lower gauge.

 

[wrcsixeight]

I measured my likely original 1989 318 starter draw Peak at close to 1800 watts, which would be 180 amps at 10 volts DC.

A new starter is rated at 1.4KW or 1400 watts, that is the output.

 

[joegreen]

I was working on the rv at my parents house but that project is on hold for now as i cant get there for a long while. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[George7941]

I hope you did not measure just the initial peak draw of the starter because that will be 400 amps or higher.

Originally Posted by Dave9
No need to replace the cable if the starter is bad, it can wait. If it were the cable involved too, the amps would be lower rather than higher than expected.
True dat..