So You Think It Needs A Starter....

I would have pulled and replaced the starter, put it all back together, tried starting it, click, click, clik, yelled the F word and thrown a wrench across the garage. Thanks for the lesson.

That voltage drop test was awesome. Never did that before. Like they say, never too old to learn something new, even at 65.

For some reason I'm really hoping for a part 2, even though it wouldn't be anything super exciting, I know.

I remember a wise man who once said, "plan your work, and work the plan". Thanks for showing this. Don't jump to conclusions.

I changed a starter on a 78 Pont Catalina in the snow, because I thought it was bad. didn't fix it. Towed to a local shop, he called before I got home, it was the ground cable. charged me $15, I was very happy with his work.

The sad part is that there are any number of shops out there who'd throw a starter on it, discover the corroded cable, and then charge the customer for both 'repairs'. Customer would get a substandard starter and shade tree cables... At a premium price of course!. It's always a kick to watch a real technician at work!

sometimes you wonder how hot a banshee might be for something to be hotter than it

Love it when you see the magic smoke out of the cable!

There was one time I was helping out a fellow traveler on the road because their car would not start. I swapped out the battery (either one I had in the trunk, or the one in my car - for definitive diagnosis purposes) & cleaned (battery wire brush) the battery terminals & cables and the car started. I popped their battery back into their car & it started right up. All that was to say that the corrosion between the battery posts & cables caused enough resistance to prevent the car from starting. Ever since then I am always suspicious of battery to starter connections as a source of high resistance. Nowadays I carry a meter in the car!

I was expecting "This cable is hot, but not as hot as Mrs O." Thanks for the videos. Stay safe out there.

“Who let the Smoke out”….Eric O!😂

That would have been a cool one to film with the thermal imaging camera.

work for the AA in the Uk, its amazing how many breakdowns I go to that have just had starters or alternators fitted, when all it was is a poor cable. what's also amazing is the amount of qualified people fixing this stuff that don't know how to do a voltage drop.

My brother in law recently had nothing when he turned the key on a 2008 F150 5.4. He told me that the starter was a few months old and the battery was good. I told him not to assume either was good. I also told him to test before buying because it is stupid to put out $300 for a starter when it doesn’t fix the issue. He put a new starter on and it still did the same. I told him he could have a bad negative cable. He said it “looked good”. (You can imagine what I said). I talked him through a voltmeter and test light test and indeed it was the negative cable. He ordered a new one and his 18 year old son installed it. Fired right up after cable install.

Mr. O shows us that sometimes letting the smoke out of the wire helps speed up the troubleshooting. Great video.

Anyone on here that says they would have checked that before is full of crap!! They would have checked it after they put a new starter in, when that didn't work 😂

I love the way you showed how to do active drop testing even when you don't want to turn the key when intake is off. The common excuse by pros is that it is too much trouble to do drop testing when you can't get at the terminals without major surgery. Once they do that, they feel committed. Time and again you show how drop testing doesn't need to be a time waster, you do it quickly and efficiently. The trick is to select a few quick, reliable screening tests and move on with your day if those tests check out.

My electrical diagnostics has improved greatly from watching your videos. Thanks for the lessons in proper diag

You are one the very few honest-to-a-fault mechanics out there who will take responsibility for a misdiagnosis and wear the cost of a new starter. (although that's very rare at SMA) We all know that often, especially dealerships, just shoot the parts canon at a car and charge through the nose for each part. (and that car often ends up at Eric's place)

You are so right Eric I would of blamed the starter !!