starter that dosn't start HELP

[staledale]

Have a small starter from chevy truck. It just clicks now. I was running errands and things were fine then It just quit. Replaced the starter form Auto Zone. same thing. Tested the new one and it's fine, tested my old one and it too turned out to be good. Put new wires on, no luck. bypass the ignition with remote starer swicth and no luck. Battery on charger two days reads good and it will run the high beams, play metallica with 800 watt amp, and light the cig lighter all at the same time. my fingers are cut, arms bleeding, and my pride is bruised. what have I left out????? Took the plugs and belts off the engine and it turn easy with a 12" rachet. they checked the starter motors but there isn't a load on them. maybe try a NAPA starter? please give me some ideas Thanks Dale

[Guest Anonymous]

It sounds to me like the answer is an amperage loss to the solenoid. The fact that the starters test good on the bench, yet essentially the same test conducted in the vehicle results in a not start indicates that what you think is a viable power supply signal isn't. The test benches only simulate the requirements for testing, but do not truly equate to the real world factors found in decades old wiring harnesses. The same test parameters used on the bench must be duplicated in chassis. Double check the continuity of the chassis to engine grounds. Add a new one just for fun. Ground the engine directly to the battery as well.(Bolt the negative cable to one of the trans bell housing bolts near the starter) Recheck the solenoid triggering test again after checking grounds. Remember that all solenoids incorporate both pull-in and hold-in windings. The pull-in windings ground through the brushes to the armature, and the hold-in windings ground to the soleniod housing itself. Both sets of windings get their power from the same ignition source. Poor brush contact or lack of GOOD ground of the engine back to the battery will cause just such a no start situation.

GM starters require as much as 15 to 25 amps to engage the pull-in windings. Our Z cars are equipped with an anemic 14 gauge solenoid trigger wire. Only a starter relay configuration of some kind will cure the lack of amperage carrying capacity that the OEM trigger wire suffers from. Simply put, the start side of the ignition should be re-dedicated to actuating a low amperage relay. The Ford fender mount solenoids take less than five amps to trigger the magnetic coil windings in them. A 10 gauge direct from the battery hot wire via a Ford solenoid to the start side of the solenoid, will cure your loss of amperage blues nicely. Cheap fix as well. You could check the archives for various starter relay type fixes.

Kim

[BLKMGK]

Are you using a Ford remote solenoid? Check the batt connections on it. Also, sounds silly, check the battery connections at the battery. I watched a guy have this problem at work once - before anyone had a chance to try and jump it I smacked the connector with a screwdriver and it cranked right up Hope it's something this simple for ya' man...

 

[ October 07, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ]

[staledale]

Took the battery and had it tested, tested out good. Have a ground to the intake. Brother who is a service manager at a Pont. dealer said battery can check out and still cause funny problems. Buddy showed up and I stole his batt. Guess what it was the battery just like my wife said from the start. kids had stuffed chicken breast for supper, I got crow............. Lesson to be learned. swap batterys if ones around, not that hard to do. would have saved me a lot of work and pride. Thanks guys.