starter problem

merkur

Registered User
I thought I was a pretty good mechanic. I'm not. 1994 sc starter not working. Just clicks. I was looking for the solenoid like my 89 sc had. but I'm told that went away in 93. ok, I crawled under the car with my meter. Sure enough I'm showing 12.4 volts on the big red wire on the Bendix solenoid on the starter. Great, so I can test the starters solenoid by jumping between that post and the small one. I get nothing. I take the starter out and bench test it. doesn't do anything the first couple tries so I wack it with a hammer once and it works. I'm not making my wife crawl under there and wack it with a hammer every time, so I order a new starter. New starter doesn't work. So I go under with the meter again. 12.4 volts, but still won't jump across. I tried touching the 12.4 volt wire to ground, and I don't even get a spark. What am I missing here? I have a large wire that supposedly comes directly from the battery that reads 12.4 volts just like the battery does, but I can short it to ground and there is not enough current to make even a little spark. It should melt the end off my screwdriver or jumper wire. but nothing. I feel pretty dumb.
 
Sounds like you have a poor connection somewhere. Get under the car with the voltmeter, and have someone try to start the car while you measure the voltage on the large terminal that the battery cable goes to. If the voltage drops significantly, but comes back when you let off the key, then there is a poor connection somewhere. If so, next step would be a voltage drop test across one connection at a time while trying to crank. First check the voltage drop from the battery post to the terminal, then terminal to cable, then one end of the cable to the other, then bottom of the cable to the post on the starter. One of those will show a significant voltage drop, and that is where your poor connection is.
 
Thanks for the reply. It was the battery terminal. It didn't show any corrosion. It was a factory sealed cable, and the corrosion was way out of sight. Had myself tricked. I finally found the wire diagram and confirmed it was straight from the battery to the starter. As soon as I saw that I went right out and got a new terminal. And the rest is history. ;)
 
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