1936 Dodge not starting

[Guest Atari1977]

Well I've got my Grandfather's car for a few weeks and when I tried starting it today, the starter just kept getting slower and slower until it just stopped. The lights still work, so is the battery just almost dead? I have a battery charger, I just don't know how to access the battery underneath the drivers side seat. Anyone know what I should do?

[keiser31]

Take out the seat cushion, remove the top cover from the battery box and remove the cables. Charge the battery and clean the starter and battery connections. Reassemble and go. May be just dirty/loose connections.

[Guest Atari1977]

Alright, I'm charging it now. I don't know exactly how the battery died though, the lights weren't running all night and it's a fairly new battery.

[jpage]

It's possible that you may have a short somewhere that is causing the battery to drain, not an unusual occurance in old cars.

[hchris]

Well I've got my Grandfather's car for a few weeks and when I tried starting it today, the starter just kept getting slower and slower until it just stopped. The lights still work, so is the battery just almost dead? I have a battery charger, I just don't know how to access the battery underneath the drivers side seat. Anyone know what I should do?

A little more info might helps us to help you, but first, is the electrical system original with positive earth connections? because if you are charging with negative earth connections you wont be going anywhere.

As to the non starting, are we talking about a car thats in regular use, how long since its been started, how old and what quantity of fuel do you have, has it flooded, does it have a spark, all these things will help forum contributors to get you started; as keiser says absolutely make sure that you have clean battery and starter cable connections, this will ensure cranking power is at its maximum.

[35cz8]

Also, check the level of the battery water. If the water level is too low, the battery will not take and hold a full charge. If you have to add water, I always use distilled water in my batteries.

[Guest Atari1977]

Got it going after charging the battery for about three hours. I'll see if it holds the charge.

[frankngin]

A 1936 Dodge is all most impossible to flood. The Heat Riser spring is wounded around a 1/4" pipe. That pipe is a one way check valve. When running the engine's vacume will suck it shut. When trying to start it is open and will drain any excess fuel to the ground. If this valve is faluty the engine will flood easly or run lean get hot too fast and toast your valves.

[Guest Atari1977]

Got it out today and it ran perfectly. However, the gas gauge now only reads Full. It used to go back and forth when I was starting, now it just stays at full. Anyone know what might be causing this?

[ply33]

...or run lean get hot too fast and toast your valves.

Been there, done that. ('33 Plymouth PD has that same elbow pipe with check valve.)

Got it out today and it ran perfectly. However, the gas gauge now only reads Full. It used to go back and forth when I was starting, now it just stays at full. Anyone know what might be causing this?

If I recall correctly, '36 still has the single wire fuel gauge system. Could be a short to ground on the wire between the gauge and the tank.

[Guest Atari1977]

Been there, done that. ('33 Plymouth PD has that same elbow pipe with check valve.)

If I recall correctly, '36 still has the single wire fuel gauge system. Could be a short to ground on the wire between the gauge and the tank.

So how would I go about repairing something like that?

[keiser31]

Been there, done that. ('33 Plymouth PD has that same elbow pipe with check valve.)

If I recall correctly, '36 still has the single wire fuel gauge system. Could be a short to ground on the wire between the gauge and the tank.

That could drain a battery.

[ply33]

So how would I go about repairing something like that?

Divide and conquer. Split the circuit at some convenient point and see if the problem goes away. If it does the problem is before that point. If not it is after that point.

Relatively easy spots to split things out are the wire attachment to the dash gauge and tank sending unit.

If it turns out it is the wire, then either examine it carefully and tape bare spots. Or, if you are like me and figure that if the insulation is bad in one spot it is likely to be close to failing in others, then simply replace the entire wire.

[Guest 1930]

Run a new wire, any old 18 gauge wire temporarily from sending unit to gauge attached maybe with a couple of roach clips, ( assuming their are no in-line resistors or any of that sort of crap ) if the problem goes away than you know where your problem is and fix it by doing a batter job of replacing the wire.

If one wire is going bad the rest are prob. not far off though so just keep in mind that a new harness might be in your future.