andrew340

installed a new starter solenoid on my car and it's sparking. is it not grounded good enough? i got three cables on the left side including the posititive cable going to the battery, and i have the ground cable going to the starter on the left side of the solenoid and the middle wires are correct. what might be the problem?

kalli

left is battery + and right is starter plus. there is no gorund cables invoilved here.
It gets ground from the chassis (the screws). So check on that

Here's a wirign diagram for starter selonoid I once made up

http://www.gascc.ie/index.php/compon...sues?showall=1

MIL1ION

There is no left or right.

If you look at it from the opposite direction...then guess what ?

The diagram linked to about is correct .

Think of the relay (solenoid)as being a switch that uses a small amount of current to SWITCH ON a large amount of current ...to the starter

Battery power to one LARGE LUG and starter power to the OTHER LARGE LUG on the relay.

The small S terminal gets power with the key and sends LARGE current to the Starter lug.
When the relay is activated...the I terminal sends 12 volts to the coil During start up only....when the key is returned to RUN, then 7.5 volts runs to coil for the engine to run.


IIRC, The Relay grounds through the mounting tabs on the inner fender.

andrew340

thanks for the replies, i have the solenoid tight against the federwall, my wires look right according to the diagram. if your facing the solonoid the battery terminal is on the left with two other terminals (one of which is connected with the two smaller terminals that go to the S and I ports), then the starter wire is on the right side. tightened everything and got it to stop sparking. so now it clicks but not cranking. i tried connecting the negative side of a starter cable to the - side of batt and engine ground, nothing. tried - cable to batt. side of starter relay and got sparks. what am i doing wrong here?

fakesnakes

What did you change? That may provide insight to your new problem.

andrew340

all i've changed is the starter relay and the fuel pump. died on me fri. while i was cruisin around. so it's not sparking anymore and it's clicking at the relay which it wasn't before so that's good. alot of my wires are very old, and crappy looking. i have a multi meter, i just don't know how to test the wires. do you have to be cranking the car to test them or can you do it without cranking?

kalli

actually.... is the thign sparking while starting or while the car is actually running.
If it's while the car is running somethig is horribly wrong.
can you confirm that so we know?

andrew340

it's not sparking anymore. i tried some of the things on your writeup kali, connecting the negative jumper cable to the negative battery and then to the alternator bracket, nothing, then tried connecting the negative jumper cable from negative battery to left side of solenoid with the positive battery cable and got sparks as soon as i touched. does it matter where the positive side of the jumper cable is?

andrew340

i think it's either wires or maybe neutral starter switch, i had a problem with the nss a couple years ago but had taken it to a shop so never learned much about it. how can i test the wires, i have a multi meter, do i have to be cranking the car while i test or not?

kalli

uhhhh there must have been a misunderstanding. selonoid left is connected to battery+. so if you connect battery- to that it'll spark like mad as you're shorting the battery

tell us if it sparked always or when ignition on or during start or when engine was running

i'll check later on my doc to see what could possibly have been misunderstood and change it so that this doesn't happen ever again