Guest Pegasus76 Posted July 10, 2004 Share Posted July 10, 2004 Ok, I pulled the starter out from the car and set it on the fender with everything hooked up. I then took some jumper cables and connected it from the battery to the starter but it still doesn't turn. So I took the positive cable and ran it over one of the connectors and the starter spun. Any idea what's going on? (I have 2 connectors one is labeled "R" the other "S" and I ran the positive over the S and it started). This is really boggling my mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 What is the voltage at the "S" terminal wire. This should be your igntion voltage. Make sure that you are getting a full 12V at that wire. You could also do a voltage drop test on that wire to see what kind of condition that wiring is in. To do this, 1. connect one lead of your voltmeter(on a low DCV setting) to the + lead on the battery. 2. attach the other lead to the "S" terminal on the starter(the "S" terminal wire should be connected to teh the starter. 3. now turn the key to start and read your voltage. This reading will show the amount of voltage dropped. It should be fairly low, the maximum is 1.2V(10% of supplied voltage). Obviously you do not want that much. You do not need to have the battery cable on the starter hookedup for this but the starter does need be grounded to the car. Lets see what kind of results you get with this. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 I'd like to add, I was having problems also and read on a forum that extra ground cables helped some people. Well, when my car was running fine, I decided to do this one day and it wouldn't start! I removed the additional ground cable and everything is ok. From my experience, the solenoid is grounded to the starter and the entire thing is grounded to the engine block. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pegasus76 Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 I'm going to need to buy a voltmeter then (Don't have one)...In any case, with the starter still out of my car I decide to replace the ignition to Starter wire and it still doesn't want to click..So I decide to just hook up the jumper cables once more to see if it's the positive or negative again...And WALAH the starter starts spinning WITHOUT the postive jumper connected to the power line (At this point i'm getting happy because I think I just need to get my starter grounded again for it to run). So I then connect it back onto my block and connect everything and when I turn the key it just goes "click". (At this point I want to cry ) So then I take the negative lead from the original mounted position (The bellhousing) and connect it to one of the starter mounts and it's still no go. I'm trying to do everything everyone on the forum is suggesting but nothing seems to be working. I appreciate all the advice everyone is giving me. But I am in desperate need of more suggestions or advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I'm getting confused by what you mean by powerline and positive jumper. Do you mean you have the large positive terminal on the starter connected to the S (input voltage from the IGN key)? If so, this should be correct. Have tried it withoutt the negative cable completely? It sounds like you're having the short circuit problem I recently had? Also, a friend told me that if you tried to spin a starter too many times with a low battery, something seizes up inside the solenoid. I had an Optima red top which always showed 12V after a charge and even passed the tests at a local shop. But it always had trouble starting the engine! I let it discharge too many times which is bad for the red top but the yellow top can handle. I don't have anymore problems with it. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 It sounds to me like your starter is fine, perhaps it is your wiring that has gone bad. While your starter is out - go ahead and take it to a parts house where they can give it a proper testing. This will either prove the starter is bad or it will rule out the starter all together. Have you tried installing a flat ground strap from the back of the cylinder head to the firewall? The biggest problem everyone has in trying to diagnose your problem is we dont know what changes you have made to the wiring of the engine, car, accessories. Many years ago my friend had rebuild a Bandit T/A for a friend of his. I was with him when he was ready to start the new engine. Everytime he turned the key switch, the starter solenoid would click once and then nothing. He put a multi-meter on the solenoid and prior to turning the key switch the meter read 12+ volts. After turning the key switch the meter showed a voltage drop at the starter to about 3-4volts. After we all scratched our heads for awhile he noticed his negative battery cable at the battery was not tightened. Upon checking other grounds we also noticed the flat ground strap from the back of the driver's side cylinder head to the firewall was not attached. After connecting the flat ground strap and the tightening the negative ground cable the engine fired right up. 1) Check your ground cables not only for tightness but for corrosion at their ends and the surface where they mount. 2) Its possible your solenoid is bad Get your starter to a parts supply store where they can test it properly. Then you can move on to the next phase of diagnosis. Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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