[wanarace]

I knew my starter selenoid was starting to go bad. It started fine when cold but would not start when warmed up. I would have to let it cool down for a while then it would start right back up I had this problem with another car and just changed selenoids and everything was fine from then on.
So today I dropped the starter, put a new selenoid on, it worked perfect on the bench. (I also checked all the brushes and everything looked perfect) I put the starter back in, hooked up all the wires just the way they came off. Went to start it, nothing. There was a power drain because the lights dimmed, but I could not here the selenoid click at all. I checked all my connections, nothing.
After checking everything with a voltmeter here is what I came up with;

- 12.4 Volts to the Starter from the battery.(Good)
-Wire from ignition, "ON" position 8.0V. (Bad)
-Wire from ignition, "START" position 12.2V. (Good)
-Two wires off other, only on when starting pole, both 12 volts "ON" and "START".(Bad)

This isn't my car, it's my dad's 66 1/2 ton. So I have no idea why there is 2 wires on the outside pole. From what I know there should only be one, and it provides additional power to a points distributor when cranking the engine. My Chevelle only has one.

Something else weird, is that I tride jumping the main terminal to the inside pole without any other wires hooked up. Same way I do it on the bench everytime, nothing happens. Only when I unhook the wire there is a spark, not when I touch them in a first place.

I also made sure the starter was grounded properly, by running a booster cable from the body of the starter to the (-) side of the battery. Did not help.

I there a chance the ignition switch could be toast? There should only be 12V from the igntion wire when cranking the engine and not when in "ON", right? The other two mistery wires should have no current threw them since they should simply add additional power to the distributor?

As you can see, there is deffinatley something wrong. But I did hook the starter up the exact same way, and it always worked properly before the heat soak problem.

Thank you for an Help
Steve

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66 327 Malibu

 

[Peter F.]

First off, it sounds like you have the wires at the starter crossed up. The start wire is purple and should go to the inside terminal. I believe the other wire is yellow and goes to the outside terminal. The 8V you're reading on the start wire in the on position is the coil voltage being fed back up the wire.

Secondly, if you jumper power to the inside terminal and the starter does not go then there is a problem with the starter. Maybe the gear is jammed against the flywheel not letting the solenoid move it out??? More than likely the solenoid is junk.

Peter

 

[wanarace]

Wires are definetley not crossed. Yes the purple is on the inside.

I tried the starter before I put it in the truck and it worked fine. Put it in nothing. Took it back out and it works fine. I will have to check and make sure it is not jamming. But when I jumper it there is no spark at all, only when I take the jumper off do I get a spark. Seems a little backwards.

Something else, in the last week, I had the altenator wire melt and brake right at the connector, (I assumed a bad connection since it was very localized right a the connector). Anyways my GEN light never went on right away, but did after awhile. Now that I fixed the wire the GEN light will not go out. So there are deffinatley some electrical demons somewhere.

Thanks
Steve

 

[wanarace]

Something else, the 8V can not be coming from the coil because I have a cut off switch just before the distributor and it is off.

Thanks again
Steve

 

[John_Muha]

Since you have a cut-off switch on the coil it won't be harmed trying this.
I assume you have an external regulator in there.
Just for a test, pull the regulator connector off and re-measure voltage on the purple starter wire in the ON or RUN position. Voltage go up to 12 volts?

 

[wanarace]

Well after 2 days I am back to exactly were I was on Friday, only starts when cold, not hot.

So it is not the solenoid. Either it is the starter, or the battery. When the starter gets hotter it needs more juice, but the juice isn't there. I bypassed the ignition switch and ran a 10 gauage wire off the battery cable, thru a 30amp switch, and back to the inside pole. It helped a little, but still won't do anything when hot.

So now I am going to make sure the battery is fully charged, then see if that helps. If not I will put on a new starter.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Peter F.]

Does the solenoid click when it won't start.

If it does, then you are right - it's the starter.

If it doesn't, then it's a voltage problem or a solenoid problem. Usually when this happens, jumping the battery terminal to the S terminal will make it work. If it won't, then it's likely a solenoid/starter problem.

Peter