Starter Motor Wiring Help...what's Wrong!

[richardm6994]

The big terminal is straight from the battery.

 

The spade connector is from the ignition

 

All as it was with the pinto except it doesn't have any effect on the starter motor.

 

I've stuck a volt meter down there and I'm getting 12v on the big connector and spade connector (when the key is turned).

 

The Battery does need charging but I would have thought that there is enough juice to at least fire the solenoid (electric fan etc... All work)

 

Fresh out of ideas so any help would really be appreciated

 

[richardm6994]

Earth lead is straight onto one of the starter bolts

[speedtripledan]

Is there another spade on the solonoid my v8 had 2

[Guest MarkB]

have you got a terminal the otherside of the plastic? if so connect your switch feed to that instead

[richardm6994]

As far as I can see, there is only 1 spade connector.....I thought it was idiot proof having only 1 big and 1 small connector.

 

It's a p38 starter if that helps

[Guest MarkB]

if theres only 2 connectors the only technical thing left to do is to HIT IT with a large metallic object

[Guest MarkB]

according to my book it has 3, ones a terminal spade and two nut retained

[Guest MarkB]

[richardm6994]

Right, I give up. The pinto is going back in tomorrow!

 

Ive just come back in from he garage after my first post and having looked at starter it has in total 4 connections, but 2 of them (1 on the solenoid and 1 on the motor) are already connected together with some heavy duty copper.

 

The remaining 2 are the ones I've connected to.

 

The battery is almost completely dead now after playing with the electric water pump so I will charge it up and have another go tomorrow....in the mean time I'll do some googling....

 

 

[Richard Grove]

I know this is an old thread but I have exactly the same problem and have been scratching my head all night.

 

Good earth, large terminal on solenoid to battery and small terminal to ignition - nothing happens. I accidentally touched the small terminal wire to earth and the whoosh the starter is spinning - how did that happen. Now very confused.

 

Richard

[speedtripledan]

No earth to the engine from the battery?

[richardm6994]

Im my case, the starter motor (bought second hand) was full of rust and dirt in the inside so the inner coil wouldn't spin because the rust had bonded it to the outer case.

 

Also the solenoid had seized...althought it looked fairly clean inside, a fine whilte film of something was stopping the solenoid piston from moving.....I cleaned with a bit of wet and dry and then a good dose of wd40 and all was well.

 

I stripped the motor insides, gave it a good clean with a wire brush and it's been fine ever since...although it was a bit tricky to put back together because the brushes kept popping out of their seats (a job that needed 3 steady hands)

[Richard Grove]

Well this has been bugging me all day so as soon as I got home I whipped the starter motor off to test it on the work bench. As per the picture below Starter Motor body is connected directly to battery earth. The large 8mm terminal on the solenoid is connected directly to battery positive - all good so far!!

 

The small black/blue wire is connected to the small terminal on the solenoid. If i touch the other end of this wire to positive terminal on battery the starter motor should spin. I know this to be correct but nothing happens. If I touch the small wire to negative on the battery the starter motor spins. I just don't get it. I assume the solenoid must be faulty??

 

 

[knights_templar]

strange

 

does the starter turn backward when it does spin?

[Richard Grove]

When I tested it in the car by connecting the IGN feed to earth the engine turned over in the right direction (clockwise) and there seems to be no problem with the starter motor itself. May be I should just wire in a relay that will provide a switched earth to the starter solenoid and all will work OK.