Starter does not spin

OhBuoy · #1 (**permalink**) 05-04-2002, 04:34 PM

I have gotten to the point where I have disconnected the coil wire and am ready to hear the engine turn. I wired everything up, and when I turn the starter, nothing. I tried the old electritions trick of drawing a ground to the starter lead to see if power is getting their, and there were lots of sparks. Sparks = power. So, what gives? I am pretty sure my engine grounds are good, but will double check. Any other thoughts. The starter I had came with a two lead wire, and I replaced it with one with just the power lead. THere are three lugs on the back of the starter. Does one of these need to be connected to the starter switch possible (second solenoid?).

mr0077 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-04-2002, 06:49 PM

OhBouy, what kind of starter do you have? With 3 terminals, it sounds like a GM-type, with solenoid mounted on starter motor...?
On my mini starter setup, I have the firewall solenoid triggered by the starter switch, which sends power to the starter. I have a jumper at the starter, from the big (positive) terminal to the solenoid coil terminal, to trigger the starter solenoid when power is applied from the firewall solenoid to the big (power) terminal on the starter solenoid. Not authentic, but just as effective (maybe more so), the starter switch could be wired direct to the starter solenoid trigger terminal, if you have a starter-mounted solenoid. LOL, hope that helps...

OhBuoy · #3 (**permalink**) 05-04-2002, 09:52 PM

I pulled out the info sheet on the Ford Racing Products high torque starter, and it indeed appears to have a solenoid on it. If I ran the battery straight to the starter and the starter switch straight to the solenoid on the starter, skipping the genuine Ford solenoid under the dash, where would I run my Alternator and Main power line for the fuse box to? The Starter? Straight back to the battery? I preffer straight back to the battery, but do I need to increase the wire guage?

mr0077 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-05-2002, 05:32 AM

Either location would work, your preference, unless your battery has been relocated. Manufacturers seem to prefer the starter or a variant, but I've seen and done both, starter and battery, with no problems. Electrically they are almost identical, except for resistance. If your battery is in the trunk, I would recommend hooking up at the starter and using the large gage starter wire to charge the battery. Otherwise, you would need a large (8-gage?) wire from the alternator (and the harness) to the battery, in addition to the 2/0 or bigger battery cable you already should have.

Mr.Fixit · #5 (**permalink**) 05-06-2002, 04:01 PM

If you have the ford high torq starter with the solenoid on it, bypass the solenoid on the starter (as if it were a chevy with hot start problems) with a 10 ga wire from the batt cable to the activation lug, and use the solenoid on the firewall. That way when the solenoid sticks open, you can reach it more easily to rap it with a wrench. The three lugs on the starter are: battery cable in, starter activation wire, and the hot output to bypass the ballast resistor so your coil has enough volts to fire off (not needed with MSD, duraspark,etc.) Regular ford starters only have a single post, for the battery cable in. The other wires come off the solenoid on the firewall.