Poor grounding lead to no-start problem and jumping speedometer

[silly22]

Hi everyone,

After lots of research and struggling with diagnosis, I have found the source of the problem with my 1998 Safari AWD.

I will describe the symptoms in case anyone else encountered the same problem.

In its recent history, the van started like it was connected to a near-death battery, low on cranking amps. Once, when I tried starting the Van it turned over but quickly died, and then two seconds later (with the key in the On position) it decided to start itself like somebody pressed the remote start buttons on a fob. Also, the clock would sometimes reset to "1:00" after starting.

Then last week, when I tried to start the van by turning the key to the "start" position, I would hear the starter solenoid bouncing but the engine never turned over. Also, the speedometer needle would jump up and down with the rattling of the starter solenoid all the way up to about 40 km/h if i held the key in the "start" position long enough.

After charging the battery, checking for arcing from the ignition coil or ignition coil-to-distributor wire, and taking off the starter for inspection, we could tell it was not a starter problem but an electrical connection issue.

Finally we ran a new ground wire from the negative terminal to the engine block and the van started up perfectly. I have yet to trace the bad ground connection; so i'm relying on this second wire to the engine block at the moment.

[CD Smalley]

Check the resistance of the initial negative battery cable....

[vettepin]

i have the same problem on my 99 astro. the battery is new and charged and just not enough power to start , click click. once i jump it from a car it starts fine. not good