hard start for 2002 Cad Deville base

[liberty9133]

I hear a clinking sound when i first attempt to start. Not a click-click. I have to do this many
times and then, voila, it starts. Today, it took 30 or 40 clinks before it started. Now one
thing seems puzzling: when it is very high humidity/damp it starts easily. And today was a
very low humidity. This has been the story for a few months. But today was by far the
worst. Has new battery. Checked terminals. All ok.only 78k miles

[barczy01]

Check you battery cable connections and I have seen a lot of problems with the main ground on the alternator and rf frame rail.

[KevinW]

That's where I would look too. The alternator to RF rail ground wire is on the short side, and when the powertrain mounts get weak, there's too much movement, and the internal strands of wire will deteriorate. Under conditions of very high humidity, there's an opportunity for alternate ground paths. The quickest way to verify this condition is to use a jumper cable from a clean, conductive, metal part on the engine (ensure nothing gets in the way of moving parts) to chassis ground (one of the strut mount bolt heads might work if clean), then see how it cranks.