Hi,

Son's 1989 GT 5.0 manual. Replaced battery in May. Son is out of town in college. Three weeks ago, I went out to start the car to run it around the block and the car wouldn't start. The dome light didn't even come on. I put a trickle charger on it for 24 hours, and tried again. This time, the dome light came on dimly, all the idiot lights came on, but the car wouldn't crank. I checked the voltage on the battery and found it to be at 9.3 volts. I attempted to jump it, but also the same result. Last weekend, I pulled the battery out of the car and charged it in the garage, in the off-chance that there's some kind of a drain in the car (stuck glove box light or a short somewhere). Starting voltage was 8.3, and after charging, it was only up to 9.6 volts. I pulled a battery out of another v8 car in the fleet and attempted to start the car using that one. Prior to hooking it up, I checked the voltage and found that battery to be at nearly 12 volts. The car behaved as it had with the other battery after it had been trickle-charged - Dome light on, idiot lights on, but no crank-age.

What should I check next?

Thanks in advance,
Mike
Wall, NJ

I'm not sure if it's bad manners to reply to one's own posts, but since there were no replies, I thought I'd give you an update.

It was the solenoid.

Mike