My First Setback - SUCCESS!, Looks like a bad starter or solenoid Options

[turk22]

Hey, so it seems like my starter may have crapped out. Worst part is I think its my fault. I went to start the car, the car was in gear, and it engaged, the car moved forward a little (an inch), and I immediately let off the key. Since that moment, when trying to start, I get a loud click from the starter (or the relay?), but nothing else.

After looking at all the related threads, here's what I've done to test:


- Tried to jump the starter from the yellow wire terminal on the solenoid to the positive on the starter with a screwdriver, just got a weak spark, and the starter did nothing.

- Tried to jump the starter from the positive to the negative side with a jumper cable (If I understand correctly the starter should spin, but the flywheel not engage?). Nothing happened, not a sound, click, or anything.

From what I've been reading it seems like a bad starter.

I know there is probably more to test/eliminate to make sure this is starter issue. But electrical is not my strong suit. I have purchased a multimeter.

- I believe that I need to test the voltage from the yellow lead of the solenoid while cranking the engine. Question: Just ground the meter to the tranny case?

The car was starting fine, and after that one incident, never again. I bump started it, and drove around the block a few time (hoping the starter was just stuck or something), but no luck, same click, no start.

What I'm hoping to do, is rule out other possibilites and then I guess order the replacement starter if that's what needed.

Turk

[SLITS]

John's correct. If you look at a solenoid there can be 3+ terminals. The two larger terminals are B+ (from the battery) and the other large one feeds the starter motor only (makes it spin when jumped).

The solenoid does two things when activated by putting 12 VDC to the spade terminal. It energizes the piston in the solenoid to pull the bendix gear into the flywheel teeth and closes a set of contacts (used to be a copper washer) to take B+ voltage from the battery to the starter motor.

Sometimes you could take the solenoid apart and flip the washer inside as the contact points would get burned from use and not make a good contact. Hitting it with a hammer made it work most of the time, but it was a bitch crawling under the car every time you had to start it.