In a message dated 4/22/99 9:31:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time, lukehart@mis.net
writes:
> Hello list,
> I had a badly frayed Positive battery cable that was constantly giving me
> trouble. I started the car up and turned it around in my garage and
> replaced the cable with one from TRF. After I hooked it all back up, I
> turned the key and got that tuning fork like CLICK (Just one per key turn)
> along with a small puff of smoke. I am hoping that this smoke came from
the
> WD40 I applied on the cables. The battery is fully charged My headlamps,
> horn etc all work, and I double checked my conections. Still I only get a
> click. Any Ideas? Have I burned out my starter selenoid somehow? If so
> how can I check it before replacing it?
Eric,
here is the click coming from? Around the fuse box, or from the area around
the starter? If it's coming from around the starter, you may have a bad
solenoid, but if it's coming from around the fuse box, you may have knocked a
wire loose from one of the solenoid terminals when you put the cable on, and
what you're hearing is the starter relay clicking. There is a white/red wire
on one of the terminals that comes from the either a starter relay or the
ignition switch, depending on the year of the car (you didn't give the year,
so I don't know if you should have a relay or not. The relay was added
sometime around '74). This wire is powered to operate the solenoid.
1) If re-attaching that wire doesn't help, try this: Pull the white/red wire
from the solenoid, and, with the transmission in neutral, emergency brake on,
and the ignition key off, jumper to this terminal directly from the battery.
If you don't get the starter to spin when you do this, you may have a bad
solenoid. If the starter does spin, you have a bad connection somewhere in
the white/red wire.
2) If the starter doesn't spin, the next step is to bybass the solenoid and
power the starter directly. You'll notice there are two large terminals on
the solenoid - one from the battery and one with a large wire that goes
directly into the starter. Using one of a pair of jumper cables, and
observing the same precautions as above, place one end of the jumper cable on
the positive post of the battery, and then press the other end firmly against
the terminal with the starter wire on it. Don't be timid - jam it up there
hard. You want to make a good solid connection, with as little arcing as you
can. if you're timid, you won't make a good connection, and you'll get lots
of arcing and burning of the terminals. Just make the connection long enough
to see if the starter will work, as the starter can draw a LOT of current,
especially if it is stuck.
If the starter spins in step 2, but not in step 1, your solenoid is bad. If
the starter doesn't spin in either step, the starter is bad (unless it's
jammed, in which case you'll hear it struggle as it tries to spin).
Hope this helps.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://members.aol.com/danmas/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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