I bought a 1980 Chey Malibu for my son 8 months ago. It runs pretty good but I do have a problem. It starts good at the beginning of the day but as the day progress, it get more and more difficult to start. Eventually, it dosen’t start at all. After it sets over night, it will start again. Help me to deliver the Chey.
Define no-start first.
Starter won’t turn the engine over, turns over slowly, only clicks, does nothing, etc.
If I make a wild guess here based on the little info provided (and if the battery is good, etc.) then it sounds like this car could be suffering a bit of starter heat-soak. It’s a fairly common problem because the starter is located down low near the header pipe.
If the starter is worn (verified with a current draw test) then replace it. Heat soak can also be tamped down a bit by the use of a starter blanket and/or heat shield with the latter being either bought or fabricated.
The battery is good. Let me give a liitle more detail. At the beginning of the day. The car starts right up. After that, the car goes wonk, wonk, wonk, and then it eventually starts. As the day progress, it goes wonk>>>>>>, Wonk>>>>>>>, Wonk>>>>>>>>, then it starts. Then it just goes wonk and not start at all.
With the info as presented I’m leaning towards a defective starter although it would help to know more about the battery.
How old it is and exactly how it was determined to be good. Unless the battery is charged and then load tested properly no one really knows.
A weak alternator could do the same thing by not keeping a good battery fully charged since it sounds like the vehicle may be going through repeated starts during the day.
JMHO, but anytime an electrical problem exists in a vehicle a complete electrical check should be performed to weed out any uncertainty. It is performed in this manner.
Charge battery for a minimum of .5 an hour and load test it along with inspection of cables.
Test starter current draw.
Test alternator output.
Test for parasitic current draw in the system.