STARTER PROBLEM

[CHRIS]

Owner of 1981 automatic Fiat 2000 spider
Bought the car 2 years ago and it's been sitting in garage for about 8 months.
I tried to start it recently and battery was dead
Have been trying to start it with a boost for three days now.
Day one: starter solenoid kicks in, and clicking sound.
Day two: starter solenoid kicks in, slight engine turn and then starter clicking
Day three: starter solenoid kicks in, no click and engine turns very, very slowly, no start-up.
Additionally, in day two, engine turned only when booster vehicle was running, when booster vehicle was not running
the fiat starter only clicked.
Any ideas?
Is my starter suffering from old age or do I have an electrical problem,
or heaven forbid an engine problem. The car has ran recently and engine had not shown any serious problem or any noise
Thanks for any comments

[So Cal Mark]

you need a fully charged battery with clean tight cable connections.

[mbouse]

agreed. maybe you should wait a day or two to let that charger do its job... in the mean time, grab a 12 volt 35 amp car battery from your other vehicle, and put it on the Spider. see if the KNOWN good battery will start the car.

while the Spider battery is out, take it to Auto Zone for a free test, unless it studies hard, it is prolly gonna fail.

[spider2081]

I agree with trying another battery. But if that is not easy you could try disconnecting the dead battery and jumping the car, directly to the battery cables. The vehicle used to do the jumping should be running. A dead battery can draw as much current as the alternator on the running vehicle can supply leaving little for the starter. So for the first attempt to start a car with a dead battery its a good idea to disconnect it. If it starts don't disconnect the jumpers. Once the car has warmed up a bit then shut it off, conect the dead battery and try jumping it again.

[rlux4]

You should also check the main engine to body ground. Just recently we had a member that was stuck on the road and his starter wouldn't kick in. His ground had disintegrated.
Ron

[CHRIS]

Thank you for all the feedback.
I bought new battery, installed it, and car started without hesitation.
Can't wait for spring and summer to drive it.