It's a new Optima. Checked the volts and it's 12.5.

 

Fully charged should be over 13..... They will discharge just sitting on the shelf, so, first thing I think I would try is putting it on the charger for a while.

 

It was cranking fine with it til this problem developed out of nowhere. I don't think it's an undervolt problem.

edit: let's test the hypothesis. I put the battery on a trickle charge. I'll let it go overnight and see what the voltage does.

 

Check the battery terminals then as well. Wouldn't hurt to clean 'em.

 

Or a shorted starter.

 

I can't find how the 11 Volts to the CKP was fixed, how did you do it? That was a real puzzler.


On this new problem, is the starter turning at all, or is it hung up? From your description, it may be jammed. Is it getting hot? I've heard that sometimes you can tap on it to get it freed up.

Another thought: Are you sure the Fuel Pump Relay is clicking? It may be the Starter Relay

Good luck, you've surely had more than your share of the bad.

 

The coolant sensor could have taken the buss circuit down for the cranking but not starting. The a/c transducer, TPS and coolant sensor also share the same buss circuit as the crank sensor. I have also seen the clockspring also take the buss circuit down. I agree with hey you about the battery. Low voltage will make all the relays make a clicking sound and when using the starter, you need to crank for 15 second and release, because the starter will overheat and can fail.

 

The 11 volt problem was, I believe just me not having all the grounds hooked up in the right places.
I had swapped the heads (stock for EQ) and timing chain (stock for a double roller) and had the front accessories off the engine, grounds bolted to other places, etc. The simplest solution was to put it all back together. When I did that, it worked like it should and stopped the "no bus" problem.
I just didn't want to put it all back together before I started it so I could make sure everything was right and working properly. I still have to pull the pan and do the rear seal and pan gasket. And I need to get in there and verify spark timing, since I pulled the plug wires off and put them back on in this period.
I've been out of town for a few days and haven't been able to work on it, so that's why I haven't been really active here. The new parts came in for the temp sensor and pigtail, so I'll get those on and see what happens.
In the meantime, I did remove the starter and clean that end of the cable and connections. Everything looked ok, so now it's super ok.
The previous owner put one of those cheapo clamp top battery terminal sets on it. So, I probably need to get a higher quality terminal or make new cables using some 0 or 2/0 cable.
The Optima is on the charger trickling again, and I'm pretty hopeful it'll work out.

Thanks for the interest and responses.

It's been raining for a bit, so I'm going to wait and see when it stops. May not be able to give you quicker responses.

 

Would have been nice if it had been a low battery, but no dice.
Told ya so.

I unplugged the wire that activates the starter to prevent that amp draw and it still did the same thing. Plugged the wire back in: same thing but with a starter click.

Battery has 13.8 volts. Cables are clean. Yada.

The gauges do this slow rise to about 1/4 of the gauge sweep, then go back down. Sometimes they flicker. No Odo, radio doesn't energize, etc. I can turn key to acc and the radio will spin up the cd player and the face plate will display time, radio turns on and plays.

Only thing not attached to the engine are valve covers and water pump.

 

Got tilt wheel? Check the wires at the ignition switch.