Starter help

[bob88]

I have all my wiring done, but

 

I hooked the Black-yellow wire up to the starter "S" terminal the + battery wire and White-red wire going into the firewall to the big terminal.

 

I turn the key and nothing happens.

 

I checked the Black-yellow gets power when turn the key to the start position.

 

I also took the starter to Kragen and they said it worked fine.

 

Everything else works fine, the lights, guages,ect.

 

Any ideas

[awd92gsx]

If I were you, I'd just buy a battery cable that has a direct lead from the battery to the starter, rather than sending all of that current through those little red/white wires...

[sjhafa]

Check your grounds, if you have painted everything like most during the build up you may not be getting a good ground. Start with the obvious too, battery fully charged and good connections on the posts. May sound silly but it is usually the obvious..I wish you luck

[Cruez]

can't remember the color, but you DID hookup that little wire that is all by itself that actually gives the solenoid its signal. correct? I've forgotten that step many times.... :/

[awd92gsx]

Oh yeah...make sure it's connected to the right terminal, too...

 

On a standard direct drive starter (at least) there are two terminals it can physically be connectd to...but, only one will actually engage the solenoid. It will be the one that is closest to the block (if you're starter is on the passenger side of the vehicle).

[bob88]

Ya, I did all of that.

I connected it to the "S" terminal.

[awd92gsx]

Is your block grounded to the chassis? Are you getting voltage to the white/red wire?

[bob88]

ya, everything works.

 

Headlights, tailights.

 

So the white-red wire is good.

 

The wire thats sapposed to go to it is even getting power when i turn the key

 

Its so weird.

 

Its getting a good ground.

 

if i bypass everything and just use gator clips it works, but when i hook up the black-yellow wire which is giving power to it it works once in a while.

 

Its like the black-yellow wire isnt giving enough power or somthing.

 

I'll try charging the battery tonight

[Cruez]

Or maybe the solenoid has bit the big one.... got another one to verify???

[bob88]

Thats what im going to do tomarrow.

 

Thanks

[GrayZee]

This might be off topic but one thing you should make sure of is that your starting circuit uses a starter relay. The old Datsun ignition switches had a wire that simply goes to the starter terminal. It's been my experience that the Datsun switches do not like the extra current that the Chevy starter soleniod draws.

[bob88]

Alright, I fixed that problem, thanks to GrayZee's idea of putting in a starter relay, and I got to drive the Z around the block, but now the starter wont even move the engine.

 

I turn the key and there is just clicking. I took the starter out and checked the gears on the flywheel and starter and they look fine and yes, I charged the battery . I put the starter in and hooked it up except for the wire to the solenoid. to the solenoid i ran a gator clip and touched it to the positive terminal on the battery. The engine moved, no clicking but very slow and then it stopped. I took it to kragen to get it checked and they said it was fine. Anybody has any suggestions why in hell its doing this.

[Cruez]

You might want to try the gear reduction starter that is stock on the ZX. Unless you have that one already..

[bob88]

The thing is that it worked perfectly before.

[Cruez]

On that machine that they test it.... they don't put a load on it do they????

 

I had a stock gear reduction starter crap out one me... less than a minute after I installed it.. and it still tested ok when I took it back.

 

Do you have another one lying around??

 

 

I ended up getting a billet one made that works absolutely great.

[bob88]

I dont think they put a load on it, I'll try a different starter

 

Thanks

[bob88]

Alright, I tried a different starter and it did the same thing. This is a bigger starter, so i dont think its the lack of power.

[MusPuppis]

Does the new starter work once then fail after a drive, the same as the old one?

 

When I first got my Fairlady I had a switch go out in the ignition that caused the starter to stay engaged.. It didnt keep trying to start the motor, but the gear stayed out.. So after a short drive, the starter was worthless. All it would do is click or turn extremely slowly.

 

On my starter, if I remember correctly, there was a black wire with a spade connector attached to it. When I started the engine removing this wire forced the starter to disengage. I did that for two weeks until I located the actual problem, lol.

 

I dont remember the name of the switch/selenoid or a part number though.. It was about 7 years ago and my memory barely works past 7 hours.

 

Hope this helps.

[Pop N Wood]

Before you start throwing money at parts, wire brush your battery terminals and fully charge the battery with an external charger overnight. "Looks clean" doesn't count. Take a wire brush to them. Then check all your other connections.

 

If that doesn't work, then try jumpering the two main lugs on the solenoid with a screw driver. That bypasses the starter relay, S wire and the contacts in the solenoid itself. If jumpering the solenoid doesn't work, then you have a bad ground or a bad starter. Plain as that.

[bob88]

Ya thats what I did, I cleaned all of my connections and I ran a wire to the S terminal on one end and i touched the wire to the positive terminal on the starter. When i bypass the starter relay it just turns slowly and stops.

 

Right now Im running my ground wire to the body and then another wire from the body to block. Im going to try running the ground directly to the block.

 

Thanks