Jump to content

1947 Chrysler Windsor push start


Recommended Posts

The push button works intermittently some times I have to have the button pushed and manually push the plunger into the solenoid.  Does anyone have an idea where to start looking for the problem is it common for the button to have the issue or the starter?  Thanks for the help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How is the battery? Is it new or fairly old? How are the grounds? Clean and tight? Check all of the connections to the starter.

Sometimes if you don't get enough voltage to the starter from the button it can cause problems. It can be that the starter solenoid will "chatter" or just not engage completely.

Maybe put a boost on the battery to see what happens.

I had a similar issue with my 47. I thought for sure that I had some bad connections. At first the solenoid would "chatter". Later on when I pushed the starter button - NOTHING....

I always kept the battery on a minder so I wasn't thinking it could be the problem. Guess what, it turned out to be - a bad battery.

BTW - a piece of advice - a friend of mine and myself always kept our car/ATV's, etc on battery minders - usually constantly. I don't get to use my cars. That's another story.

When looking into my 47's issue I found that the battery was completely dry - no acid whatsoever. So I refilled it but it would not hold a charge.

This came about from not starting the car and having the minder on the battery constantly for a few years - my friend had the same problem with his ATV that he kept on a minder - dried up cells. I was under the impression that these battery minders would not do this. They are supposed to "cycle" the charging/discharging of the battery.

So be careful. This could have caused a possible fire or other catastrophe.

Now I unplug the battery minder every so often for a few weeks and then charge up the battery for a couple of weeks, then unplug it, etc... to be safe, hopefully

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Joe Cocuzza said:

How is the battery? Is it new or fairly old? How are the grounds? Clean and tight? Check all of the connections to the starter.

Sometimes if you don't get enough voltage to the starter from the button it can cause problems. It can be that the starter solenoid will "chatter" or just not engage completely.

Maybe put a boost on the battery to see what happens.

I had a similar issue with my 47. I thought for sure that I had some bad connections. At first the solenoid would "chatter". Later on when I pushed the starter button - NOTHING....

I always kept the battery on a minder so I wasn't thinking it could be the problem. Guess what, it turned out to be - a bad battery.

BTW - a piece of advice - a friend of mine and myself always kept our car/ATV's, etc on battery minders - usually constantly. I don't get to use my cars. That's another story.

When looking into my 47's issue I found that the battery was completely dry - no acid whatsoever. So I refilled it but it would not hold a charge.

This came about from not starting the car and having the minder on the battery constantly for a few years - my friend had the same problem with his ATV that he kept on a minder - dried up cells. I was under the impression that these battery minders would not do this. They are supposed to "cycle" the charging/discharging of the battery.

So be careful. This could have caused a possible fire or other catastrophe.

Now I unplug the battery minder every so often for a few weeks and then charge up the battery for a couple of weeks, then unplug it, etc... to be safe, hopefully

Thanks Joe!  I have Been keeping a charger on with a trickle charge because it hasn’t seemed like the battery was giving enough power to turn it quicker.  Prior to that I would use my charger on engine start to push more power into it, but didn’t pay attention to how the button worked when I did that.  I do not know how old the battery is because I just bought the car a month ago, but have felt like it is getting drained quicker than it should.  Thank you that gives me a great starting point!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had this similar issue on my 50 Chrysler.  Battery would be on charge for a day and still "chatter" the starter. Like it was not engaging correctly. At the same time I was having a ground issue and changed out the main battery ground where I cleaned the terminals and installed the new ground and thought I had the problem fixed. Weak headlights and and the ground would get warm when starting. Well it was raining that day so no drive, only a start and check connections. Seemed fine. But had been on charge all day till the time I started her up. Knew i would not be driving her for a few days so just put the maintainer on it. 3 days later I went out to go for a drive and the ground post was totally crusted over. Battery looked great from the outside but had a leak around the terminal and acid was escaping at a good rate after I replaced the ground wire. It wasn't doing that with the old ground wire. New battery and that starter issue vanished along with the crusty..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Brooklyn Beer said:

Had this similar issue on my 50 Chrysler.  Battery would be on charge for a day and still "chatter" the starter. Like it was not engaging correctly. At the same time I was having a ground issue and changed out the main battery ground where I cleaned the terminals and installed the new ground and thought I had the problem fixed. Weak headlights and and the ground would get warm when starting. Well it was raining that day so no drive, only a start and check connections. Seemed fine. But had been on charge all day till the time I started her up. Knew i would not be driving her for a few days so just put the maintainer on it. 3 days later I went out to go for a drive and the ground post was totally crusted over. Battery looked great from the outside but had a leak around the terminal and acid was escaping at a good rate after I replaced the ground wire. It wasn't doing that with the old ground wire. New battery and that starter issue vanished along with the crusty..

Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have had a similar problem with my starter button on the dash of my 1948 Windsor.

What I've discovered is:  If it doesn't engage the starter when I try the first or second time pushing it... I jiggle the key in the ignition switch, while keeping the button pushed in.

This is often works.

Long story short... I think my ignition switch is the issue.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, 53 New Yorker said:

I have had a similar problem with my starter button on the dash of my 1948 Windsor.

What I've discovered is:  If it doesn't engage the starter when I try the first or second time pushing it... I jiggle the key in the ignition switch, while keeping the button pushed in.

This is often works.

Long story short... I think my ignition switch is the issue.

 

Thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...