Voltage check please

[mohaughn]

Can someone with a voltmeter and a few free moments on there hands please check a voltage reading on their car for me? I'm having a weird start issue and I think it may be somehow related to a voltage problem.

I'm curious what kind of voltage readings other people get at the terminal 15+ connection when the car is in the on position. This is the #2 connector for the coil pack plug. If you have a bentley manual, I'm basically looking for somebody to get their voltage from the test on 120-4.

When my car starts ok, the voltage reads 11.87 at this point. When the car has a hard start problem, this voltage is reading 11.77volts. I'm curious what other people see for voltage here so I know if I have an unusually large voltage drop that may indicate connection problems somewhere in the fuse/relay box. I'm curious if 11.77volts is just low enough that it won't fire the coils, leading to no spark.

My battery voltage is reading 12.4volts measuring at both the battery + and the fuse box b+ point, and using multiple grounding points. None of my grounds look corroded. All of the connection points are shiny/clean.

[dave45056]

Mine reads 12.17v
My battery read 12.25v

My car is a late 1995 m42 engine.

[hotmilk400]

is you are scared about the .1 volt, do not be. it means nothing. it is probably due to the battery being somewhat depleted after you started the car once.

if you are scared because of the .5 or .6 volt drop, between your battery and the terminal, i would not worry to much about that either. amps are what has the power to start the car, it has little to do with voltage drop, but it could be showing its ugly head for something else. i would not worry a whole lot tho, since typically their is not a voltage drop in a car, it is usually an issue of "it works or it doesn't"

if you were to have a bad connection, it would be very possible the voltage would read just fine, but their would not be enough amperage to start the car. you should check for ohms and amperage (with a clamp on DC multimeter) or it could be something todally different. why look at terminal 15? and not the battery, starter, coils or sparkplugs first. what kind of starting problems are you having?