Help!! Electrical gremlins!!

[samsquanch..]

My battery died about a month back- I replaced it with a new one and drove it to a buddies body shop. It sat for almost 2 months because I broke my leg and there was no longer a rush to get the body work done. I decided to drive it into town last week and the battery appeared dead, I went to jump it and it just clicks once and then my gauges begin to click like a clock.. I had the battery charged and retested and it passed. Everything wire wise looks good and ground- what else could be the problem causing the gauges to jump like this??

[Anony00GT]

Sounds like a bad battery. How was it tested?

Check connections at the battery, and verify grounds.

[samsquanch..]

It was the grounds. I got a new starter for it also but this starter won't disengage once the engine starts.. I got the starter for a non A/C ABA as this one doesn't have it- if it originally had A/C an I'm using a non A/C starter would it do something like this???

[Anony00GT]

Cheap starters are remanufactured in China by the most qualified of 4-year-olds. Sounds like you got a bad one.

Just make sure the signal wire to the starter loses power after the key is released from the crank position first.

[samsquanch..]

I'm terrible with electrical **** so I brought the starter back to advanced auto to have it tested. I watched it pass and disengage. I'm really lost here now

[Anony00GT]

I'm terrible with electrical **** so I brought the starter back to advanced auto to have it tested. I watched it pass and disengage. I'm really lost here now

When you release the key, does the starter signal wire de-energize? It should have battery voltage with the key held in crank position, and no voltage as soon as the key is released from crank to run.

[samsquanch..]

It was bad starter, the new one was 1/16" too long- it would disengage but was still on the fly wheel. and also the grounds were a bit corroded. Fixed now and up and running.