Right, well if you read this thread here, this is what I've been doing to the car lately:

ford-4l-and-6-cylinder-f1/ed-head-gasket-replacement-t75307.html

Well it's back together, well the engine is anyway, and it's ready to turn over, but it doesn't have enough kick to turn over.

The Battery light is on, so I know it's not the Battery itself.

I remember when getting the far back bottom Inlet manifold bolt off, I shorted the positive side of the starter motor to the body, so the question I'm really asking is: are those stock starter motor's sensitive to short's???

Otherwise all I have touched is the alternator to get the timing cover off, and a few electrical connections that are ignition wise that I have quad tripple checked them and they are back on and firm.

Thanks guy's

What do you mean by "its ready to turn over, but doesn't have enough kick" ? Does the starter engage at all? if so does the engine turn slowly?

Just because the battery lkight comes on doesn't mean the battery is fine, a low battery will still give reds.

aaah, well what I generally learned BUT IT WAS WITH THE VN COMMONBORE, that if the battery light was on, it wasn't the battery, and it was maybe alternater or similer, and if the battery light was of and it was struggling to turn over, it was the Battery Itself.

By the sounds of things already, that doesn't seem to be the case.

One thing I forgot to say, I have already tried jump starting, and it aint happening.

I do have membership with RACV as my car is insured with them, so I could alway's just call em round and check it out?

And to answer your question Pimp, it turns over slowly, and then it just clicks rapidly to say there is no where near enough charge to turn the car over.

Does that help?

Ah this does help alot.

Ok so what i understand is, you did the head swap, and accidently earthed out the battery to starter lead? And now it wont start, but turns over slowly then ticks?

I had same thing happen when i did an engine swap to a car a few years back. It had me absoluty f**k and i resolved to even swapping the starter, but it turned out that the short out was enough to kill the battery.

If a battery is that bad, they sometimes even wont jump start, as the battery is trying to take all the supplied energy. And the battery light is only there to tell you of an alternator or reg fail, it wont tell you your battery life, as like i said even with a low/flat battery, you'll still get all your reds.

hoipe this helps

so should I be replacing the battery AND starter Motor?

No, i would try another battery to comfirm its the battery. Try and borrow one you know is good before going out and buying a new one. Take yours out and try the borrowed one, this will give you a definate answer.

get a multimeter onto the battery terminals. What does it read?

(although im sure by now it would be at 0% trying to star the car)

try another battery like mentioned

With the Multi Meter measuring in Volts:

With no load, key in the off position, it reads 11.39

With load, it hovers between the 5 and 4 range.

I will try and find another Battery off someone to confirm it though.

As I said before, Jump starting it is a no go, because it isn't working

Oh yeah that battery is fkd then.

with ignition off:

100% charge...... 12.65+ volts
75% ................. 12.45 volts
50% ................. 12.25 volts
25% ................. 12 volts

anything less than 12 volts usually isnt enough to start the car

I'll get RACV to come round and put another one in tomorrow ,

Thanks guy's, and I learnt something new with the Battery Light

Right, well this is what has happened so far today:

I rang the RACV at 8am this morning, and got someone to come round, he didn't seem to think that it needed a new battery however, he said by the way you've explained to me of what's been done to the headgasket, the battery is that down on volt's that not even our little 1.8 and 1.3 litre engine's would have been able to start it. First he tried his jumper pack but to no avail, then he jump started it off his RACV Van himself, and with a few cranks it did start.

The Car did blow a fair amount of steam, which doesn't exactly suprise me, seeing that there was water all in the cat converter and exhaust prior to removing the head, and the lenght of time it's been sitting in not only the panel shop, but under our carport.

Anyway, it didn't fire exactly how I wanted it too, but we quickly fixed that, because I had 3 spark plug leads on the wrong cylinder's.

Once it was firing correctly, this really high pitched squealing noise came from the front of the car, and we quickly found that I had shanked the air con belt, and as it was Sunday, and my favorite parts store wasn't open, I had to resort to Super Cheap Auto.

But when I got back from getting the Air Con Belt, the power had gone out, and we rang up Powercor 3 time's, and after an hr of no power, they reported it as a power pole fire, so we where without power for about 4 hr's.

Anyway, the car didn't turn over once we shut it down, but he said, give the battery a decent charge, and you might need to charge it more than once, because at this stage of my headgasket replacement, your trying to find any oil/water leaks and plugging them up, but if you still have problems with the battery, give "us" a call and we will come and fix you up with a new Battery.

Currently, the battery has about 12.29 volts in it with no ignition on or charger attached, it would have been charged sooner but because of the power cut I haven't been able to do jack s**t, I just hope my headgasket work is all good!!!!

your having a run of bad luck with this arent you?

check it after a decent charge up, that the battery holds 12.65 volts or more. If not, then it is stuffed.

Stop smirking XD,