I swapped the battery in this thing and it barely started, so I turned it off to check again and now it won't start at all. The dash, etc has power. It's a side-post battery
Here's what I've tried:
- Replaced the bolts on the harness
- Cleaned the battery terminals and both sides of both ring terminals with a wire brush until very clean
- Trimmed the rubber around the ring terminals on the harness (now I can see that both terminals are solidly flat against the battery. You can see the indents on the battery where the prongs on the ring terminal press in)
- Had the new battery tested (780 Amps, tester was on the end of the bolts so I know the threads are solid)
- Put washers around the battery side of the bolts. (Bad idea, didn't work.)
- Jumper wire between the starter and positive terminal (Just sparks, no noise)
The last one makes me think that the problem is on the negative side. My next step is going to be going back and checking resistances from batt neg to ground points
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Tap starter motor with small hammer or similar tool while helper holds key to start - if starter responds at all - REPLACE starter!