C33 Laurel Ground Issue

[c33matt]

So I’m having a really strange issue with my Laurel. I was having to wiggle the negative battery cable occasionally to get the car to start. I replaced the negative cable and the car fired right up. After shutting it off and putting the battery bracket in I went to start it again and the relay clicks but nothing from the starter at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have already sanded down the contact points for the cable but am not having any luck.

[GTSBoy]

You have (had) more than one problem.  Bad -ve battery terminal plus also something not good in the ignition switch or the starter's solenoid.  The sum of the two problems meant that slightly improving one of them (wiggling the terminal) was enough to get you over the number of volts required to make shit happen.  But the majority of the problem was elsewhere and it was nearly enough to stop you before, and now it appears to be enough to stop you, even with a new earth cable.

The ignition switch supplies power to the solenoid on the starter and the solenoid should throw to do 2 things.  The one is to engage the starter with the flywheel, but the major part of it is to switch the very large contactor that actually connects the battery to the starter.  If the solenoid or the contactor are not working properly, you get voltage drops or poor contact that just stops it from doing what it is supposed to.  This usually requires dismantling and cleaning at the minimum, usually some sort of rebuild.

[niZmO_Man]

Loose cable at starter motor? Stuck starter (hit it with something then crank)? I've seen it happen before.