park avenue won't crank

My 1991 Park Avenue won't start. Battery was dead, but after charging it would not crank engine. The starter solenoid can be heard clicking. I jumped a wire from battery + terminal to starter solenoid switch terminal and the starter turned over, which indicates both starter and solenoid are fine.

I next disconnected the battery + cable and connected a test meter between them with the ignition key off. The meter showed 12.5 volts, which indicates a short in the electrical system. I disconnected the alternator + cable and the meter still showed 12.5 volts. I next pulled each fuse, but failed to find the location of the short circuit.

I followed the instructions in my Hayne's repair manual, but could not find the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions what the problem is and how to fix it?

You need to have the battery load tested. It may produce voltage, but not the amps required to turn the starter. Be sure to check all terminals for corrosion, especially under the positive (+) terminal red insulation. BTW, always remove the negative (-) battery first.

I next disconnected the battery + cable and connected a test meter between them with the ignition key off. The meter showed 12.5 volts, which indicates a short in the electrical system. I disconnected the alternator + cable and the meter still showed 12.5 volts.

wait wait wait... what are you trying to do with the multimeter?

removing the + battery cable and placing the jumper probes between the cable and the battery is for a parasitic drain test

that's where you set your multimeter to milli-amps then pull a fuse one at a time, to see the amps jump down when you find the malfunctioning circuit...

someone else correct me if i'm wrong on this (electrical is my weakest field)

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when you were still reading battery voltage @ 12.5 V because you weren't really doing anything with the multimeter and vehicle's electrical system.
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was the car sitting for a long time? project car? daily driver? did you connected jumper wires incorrectly and possibly blew the huge 75Amp alternator fuse? (i'm just guessing 75 amps)

start with the basics, like battery condition/ load tested...

if you don't have a load tester, pull the battery out and bring it into a parts store to have them do it for free. Tell them you already charged it up at home so they'll enter into the tester "battery test after charged" button...

wait wait wait... what are you trying to do with the multimeter? removing the + battery cable and placing the jumper probes between the cable and the battery is for a parasitic drain test that's where you set your multimeter to milli-amps then pull a fuse one at a time, to see the amps jump down when you find the malfunctioning circuit...
someone else correct me if i'm wrong on this (electrical is my weakest field)

You are correct. My guess is if you put the voltmeter on your battery and someone crank it, it will probably go below 9 volts. Just because your charged it, and it shows 12volts static, doesn't mean it is good. I've seen one year old batteries die.

thanks aleekat

yea, i just looked up what i've posted earlier & the OP was testing his vehicle the wrong way...

i'll just wait to see what he did to re-test...

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so for aleekat's sake, leave the battery cables connected

place the 2 probes on + and - sides... read the battery voltage (12.5V)

have someone try to crank the car... should see a voltage drop to ~9V

if it falls below that, battery is most likely bad.

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My 1991 Park Avenue won't start. Battery was dead, but after charging it would not crank engine. The starter solenoid can be heard clicking. I jumped a wire from battery + terminal to starter solenoid switch terminal and the starter turned over, which indicates both starter and solenoid are fine.

So you ran Bat+ to the "S" terminal and it cranked over.....was it a normal crank? If yes, that shows the starter/solenoid is ok.......what it also shows is the starter circuit is a problem.....what you want to do is attach a test light to the "S" terminal, turn the key to crank, and see if you have a bright light....if you don't that circuit is your problem(try starting in neutral?).....

I next disconnected the battery + cable and connected a test meter between them with the ignition key off. The meter showed 12.5 volts, which indicates a short in the electrical system.

NO IT DOES NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All it is showing is potential voltage...

I disconnected the alternator + cable and the meter still showed 12.5 volts. I next pulled each fuse, but failed to find the location of the short circuit.

The alternatator cable is attached to the battery, so you are going to read Bat+ voltage.....that is not an indicator of a short.....like Ricebike said, if you are looking for a parasitic draw, you are using the meter wrong....

Does anyone have any suggestions what the problem is and how to fix it?

You pull the battery and have it load tested.....you make sure the battery cable connections are clean and tight.......

Does your ignition key have a black resistor pellet on it? If yes and the car does not crank with the key, but does crank with the "S" terminal jumped to Bat+, then the next step is to look at the SECURITY light in the dash.....turn key to "on" only.....look at the SECURITY light....does it go out after 5 seconds? If it does, then you need to check out the circuit between the "S" terminal and the starter enable relay......

If the light stays on after 5 seconds, you have a theft deterrant problem, and it's usually the wires to the lock cylinder.....

Thanks to all for your replies!!

First I need to make a correction in my original post. I said " disconnected the battery + cable and connected a test meter between them with the ignition key off.", the meter was actually connected between the negative cable and and battery negative terminal. That is what the Haynes manual said to do. If this change

Regarding the battery, it was less than 6 months old, and was tested and recharged at the auto parts store. I also tried jump starting the car before that with the same results.

Regarding the reply from Tech II: Regarding your comments about the key. Yes, it does have the security pellet. I was not aware of that feature, so I looked in the owners book to find out about it. (This car was given to my wife by her father before he died about 8 years ago). The manual says the security light is yellow, and I can not ever recall seeing such a light before. Does this show up on the message bar where "Brake", "Change Oil" etc warnings occur or on the instrument panel. I have two keys, and both of them produce the same results. Since the manual says that this light only comes on after starting the car as a "bulb check", I don't know if this is a problem.

Regarding the starter/solenoid:
I tried disconnecting the wire from the starter/solenoid, then connecting the meter between the solenoid and the cable, which I had not done before, and this is what happened. With the key in both the off and the on positions, no voltage was shown on the meter. When the key was turned to start, the meter showed a spike to about 12 volts, then within a second or two the voltage dropped to zero. I repeated this test with the same results, thinking my meter connection my have broken, but the same thing happened three times.

I have no idea what this means.

I have a little more background info that my be related to this problem. First, this car is used only when needed since I retired in 2009. Sometimes it sits for 2-3 weeks. The A/C compressor had stopped working late last year, but I have not tried to fix it yet. It was actually that same problem that first led me to this site, where I found the solution in an existing post.

You guys seem to know everything, and I need your help fixing this problem.

What do I need to do next?

Since the manual says that this light only comes on after starting the car as a "bulb check", I don't know if this is a problem.
Normally with security features, you turn the key to on, and all dash lights light up to include the security light.(not sure of your location) then after starting the car the light blinks for a little and goes off. If it stays blinking, the something in the security is at issue.
Just making some guesses here, if the light doesn't blink, could be neutral safety switch. Try cranking in neutral, or wiggle the shifter alittle side by side.

Thanks aleekat...
After putting my tools away for the night, I tried again to start the car, and, in the darkness I did see the "SECURITY" light flash on for about 2 seconds--it is located almost above the glove compartment. Of course the car didn't start - just the solenoid clicking. I also tried the neutral gear position with same results.

I hope someone can tell me what to do next. Again, thanks to all of you!

Again, like others posted. With the solenoid clicking, it's either not getting enough voltage or it's bad. Normally when the security feature kicks in, the car will not even attempt a start. Same with neutral safety switch. Since you put 12volts directly to the starter and it cranked. Tells me 12volts is not getting to the starter/solenoid via your cables suspect your battery cables or connections. Cables can look good at each end but have corrosion inside the insulation.

...I jumped a wire from battery + terminal to starter solenoid switch terminal and the starter turned over, which indicates both starter and solenoid are fine.
....

To me, this would indicate his battery is just fine because connecting the battery directly to the starter solenoid runs the starter.

I would start working backwards and see if you're getting 12 volts at the starter solenoid, and keep working backwards. I'm going to assume that if you have 12V at the battery, you won't have 12 V at the starter solenoid when some one tries cranking. The first thing I'd look for at this point is a bad connection at the starter solenoid.

Maybe you can measure the voltage at the starter solenoid while attempting to crank (be careful under there, things could suddenly move on you) and get back to us.

actually connected between the negative cable and and battery negative terminal.

same thing... you're still placing your meter between a battery cable and the battery terminal ~~ seems to be for parasitic draw test (setting your multimeter to milli-amps, then pulling one fuse at a time...)

when you just want to read battery voltage, you can keep the terminals connected to the battery and just place your tester leads right on + & -