Starter Revs?

[austinsjeep]

My 76 wagoneer with the amc 401 and th400, when i try to turn it over it kinda rev's and doesn't stay consistent, also when it's warm it turns a little then dies, then turns then dies... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9do24evvE2k -vid of it revving, it's gotten much worse
it has a new battery and the relay is fine, it's not the original starter but i think it turns it over really slow anyway, is it the starter or something else?

[Ryan]

sounds like the carb or timing needs adjusting

[austinsjeep]

the thing is, the starter sometimes dies for random bursts

[Ryan]

then it's possible that the starter solenoid is going, or the motor is overheating. If the motor isn't starting when it's rotating that much, the starter and solenoid can heat up a lot very quickly, which could cause it not to work until it cools down

[austinsjeep]

it's doing it almost every time too now, vid from today...(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZnWYhNYtJs) doesn't have to be warm

[Ryan]

did you recently replace the front cover, remove or reinstall the distributor, etc?

[davpratt]

It sound like several things:
A week starter. (Since you have a new battery. I would check the alt to ensure its putting out 13.8 to 14.2 VDC once the truck has started.)
The slow points in the cranking is the compression and the early spark. Timing maybe too advanced. I think I heard it back fire through the carb at least once.
Check the compression. Some of the cylinders will be higher making it more difficult for the starter with the timing advanced. This will naturally add resistance to the starters ability to crank the engine fast.

When I was younger, we would advance the engines to get more power. They would crank just like yours. On a constant compression engine they would crank and slow to almost stop and then crank a bit and slow again then fire up.

[austinsjeep]

I'll mess with the timing a bit, that's probably the issue
is there a way to test a starter solenoid?

[austinsjeep]

i got it running great, for some reason the previous owner had the black wire coming out of the voltage regulator being a ground instead of going to the pos terminal of the coil, it starts faster then my dads brand new truck now

[Ryan]

awesome!!!