Hi Everybody,

About 8 months ago I replaced the angle drive and starter (Delco Remy) on my '55 C180 (O-470J) with overhauled units.
My battery (Concorde 35A) is brand new as of 2 days ago.
My charging circuit (recently changed to an Alternator after 3 generators died in rapid succession ) works properly.
My Starter solenoid was changed when the Starter was replaced.
I cleaned all the contacts and for about 7 months everything worked properly.

Now I am back to the Starter not catching at all or turning the engine painfully slow.
I put about 250hrs on the ship within the last 8 months.

My experience with rebuilt Delco Remy generators was not exactly a pleasant one.
Could it be that I am running into a similar issue with my Starter?
Quality Aircraft Accessories out of Tulsa supplied the parts.

Any suggestions/recommendations will be highly appreciated!!

I went through a lot of headaches with batteries and starter a few years back. I finally replaced my battery cables and starter cable with new made from Bogert Aviation for $67, I shit canned an almost new gill battery, and replaced it with a concord x/c sealed battery; and I have had a problem since. I attributvmost of my headaches to the old braided ground strap and high resistance in the cables.

Check the battery ground strap. I had the same problem on a 182 several years ago and it ended up being the ground. I would here a wining sound coming from the battery area when I would hit the starter.

Interesting.
I hear the same whine....and this was a new sound.
Arcing maybe?

....I was thinking about replacing the battery wiring, but....my knuckles started hurting while thinking about it.....thanks for the hint.

Jeredp wrote:II attributvmost of my headaches to the old braided ground strap and high resistance in the cables.

What was the reasoning for using the braided ground strap in the first place? Why weren't they built with just a large gauge wire to ground the battery?

Zzz wrote:

Jeredp wrote:II attributvmost of my headaches to the old braided ground strap and high resistance in the cables.

What was the reasoning for using the braided ground strap in the first place? Why weren't they built with just a large gauge wire to ground the battery?

I wish I knew! I have rarely seen one in good shape though. A well made cable is the only way to go in my opinion

I have purchased 2 aircraft. Both of them I replaced the battery and the starter without solving my starting problem. Both times new battery cables did the trick.

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk

When I started having trouble starting, I took the time to remove and clean all of the terminal connections, just using emery cloth and in some cases just loosening and retightening the cables (the ones that were too hard to take off). Yeah, a pain in the knuckles, but worth it. I was able to eke out another year or so from my Gill battery. Start at the battery box, and move forward.

When the Gill finally crapped out, I replaced it with a Concorde AGM. I've now had my Concorde battery for 7 years as of this month, and it still works fine.

Cary

After chasing starter problems for several months I finally tore everything out from the starter button forward and replaced it all with new. New cables, new solenoids, new battery, new starter. That fixed it. Overkill maybe, but it takes me about an hour to remove and replace my cowling, and I was getting really, really tired of that.

I had problems on the 172. It turned out be bad grounds so I cleaned them up and it helped somewhat. I then ran a ground direct from the battery to the motor with a proper cable and now it kicks ass. The stock grounding system on the Cessna should be entered in the Darwin award contest.

I was chasing a slow cranking issue and found this:



It seems that over the years the vibration took its toll and the crimp became loose. When you inspect your cables, tug on them to see if the crimps are still tight. I would not have found this otherwise.

Thanks to All who chimed in.
The cables will be on the todo list!!

However, I bypassed the wiring and tried to start by connecting the battery (brand new , fully charged) directly to the Starter.
This didn't change much.
Barely pulling to and then stopping at compression.

After talking to skytec I got the Starter they recommended (ST4), installed it and still no change.

Can it really be, that after 9 months my Starter adapter gave out on me again?