Starter clickin' & grindin'

[Yorb]

For months my starter has been acting strange. When I turn the key, sometimes it starts and sometimes it just clicks once. Naturally I just wiggle the key back and forth until it decides to start. This morning, however (after a 10-day vacation where my 240 wasn't driven), I go to start it and I have to spend a good 10 minutes at it, wiggling wires and applying percussive maintenance under the hood, before it would start. And when it finally did start, it turned over real slow like. Heavy protesting.

So anyway, I couldn't get it started at lunch time so I walked to get food. When it was time to go home, I tried again but it started making even stranger noises, repeated fast clicking and more partial-turn-over grinding. With my dad's help I was able to push-start it to get it home, but now I want to know what the next step is. =(

From what I read on some older posts on here, my starter may be shot. Where do I get a new one? =/

Thanks. Have to go now but I'd like it running sometime this week if at all possible, so any and all help is appreciated! =)

[nissandrift]

Hey, Im the guy that sold you a MAFS. I have a starter for sale. PM me with an offer.

[yellow_jacket]

Rapid clicking is a sign that the starter solenoid doesn't have sufficient power. Start by cleaning your battery terminals to try and resolve that.

As far as it not wanting to start all the time, if it clicks once that is generally a sign that the brushes are worn out and the starter needs to be replaced or rebuilt.

[Yorb]

Okay, so it started this morning and I left it running for half an hour before I drove to school. It started up fine after class, so I drove to AutoZone and had them test the battery. The guy said the battery was fine but it looked like it was being drained. Car wouldn't start for him to test the alternator, so we had to jump it. Jumped fine first try, and the test showed that the alternator was pushing only about 13.7 volts...0.2 volts over the designated "bad" 13.5. So the alternator is probably just getting old, but shouldn't account for the battery draining so fast. So now I buy a battery, and hope I don't have to buy an alternator and a starter in the next few months, because that would SUCK. =(

Question that results from all that is, which battery should I buy. =) I'm going to search the forums after I post this, but suggestions are welcome here as well. Thanks guys.

Oh and nissandrift: funny story about that MAFS... I was redlining it on the onramp leaving your house, and blew my clutch entirely. Had to get it towed and replaced, where my mechanic took my old MAFS from the backseat, assuming it was broken. Guess what? Problem persisted. Turns out they had forgotten to reconnect an air hose from when they did they timing chain a month or 2 earlier. >:O RRrrr!

EDIT: After some searching I find that maybe I have a short in something and it's draining my battery? Problem is, I don't know how to go about finding it. Help?

Also, I recently added underbody lights (be quiet!), wired directly like so: Positive battery terminal -> inline fuse -> switch on dash -> positive wires on lights. Negative battery terminal -> ground wires on lights.

How can I test this for a short or something? Thanks.
Modified by Yorb at 3:58 PM 4/5/2005