Backup parts

[jasun]

Just a feeling but I want to get a backup alternator and starter. The key will just click a couple times before it will actually turn over. Not sure if the battery isn’t holding a good enough charge or what. Want to look at having some spare parts lying around just in case. Looking for recommendations for an alternator and a starter. PCM 454 in an ‘86 Salt. Here is what I have. I can’t find it on their website.



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[michael hunter]

Why not just fix the problem? Sounds like a solenoid or starter . Check the battery cables sometimes they corrode inside the insolation.

[jtryon]

try the starter solenoid first. it's on the back side of the motor, should be easy to see with the two thicker power cables going to it. i bought a two-pack of them off ebay last year when i had the same exact problem as you and it fixed it, and i wanted the second as a spare. i would sometimes have to turn the key on/off a dozen times before it would start.

link to where i got mine: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-12-VOLT-S...8978849?_ul=BO

[CJD]

+1 to fixing the problem!

I had a '67 Camaro that I drove regularly across the country. Any time something broke, I picked up an extra to carry in the trunk "just for the next time". After 10 years of accumulating parts, I finally realized that the same failures never reoccured. I was carrying around a trunk load of parts that never got touched. In fact, I realized the LEAST LIKELY failure was the one I just repaired...so carrying that part was a total waste of time and effort!

If you fix it...it will run. You can never predict what is going to go out, and if you suspect a problem, like in your case with the clicking...then FIX IT NOW!

Start by removing, cleaning, and reinstalling every single battery connection. 99.99% of the time that will fix any boat starting issue. If that does not, then focus on solenoid first, battery second, and starter third.

[chris young]

Thanks for the chuckle CJD. Agree with everything you said, unless there's more than one of the same thing on the machine. I had a 74 AMC Hornet when I was a teenager and it had 6 of these cast aluminum Rocker arm pivot bridges that tied the intake and exhaust rockers together and they would break at any time. I actually kept a couple of spares in the car with the wrenches needed to change them. I had the valve cover gasket glued to one side only so I could do a quickie roadside repair. Funny enough, just before I scrapped the car they changed the thing to a 3 piece design where the bridge was mild steel.

And yes, several turns of the key points to wiring or solenoid. Easy to troubleshoot. I prefer the jumper cable method for such things, clamp on to the +ve terminal of the battery and then poke the control contact on the solenoid. If it doesn't crank right away, go to the starter side of the solenoid and do the same, you can trace out the whole system in no time with this method. Safety alert; there will be sparks and you have to be firm. Normal precautions, fire extinguisher within reach, safety glasses on, mother on speed dial etc.