In a message dated 4/28/99 2:30:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time, lukehart@mis.net
writes:
> Last night I put the jumpers to the bottom selenoid terminal and nothing
> happened at first. After I wiggled it around a little bit sparks started
> flying but I held on. The starter made a whining noise like it was turning
> but the engine didn't turn over. ?? Bad selenoid? What about the
> suggestion that I probably rurned the upper terminal when installing the
> positive battery lead?
Eric,
That is what you should see when you bypass the solenoid. The starter will
turn, but since the solenoid has not pulled the gear into contact with the
flywheel, (the solenoid is not energized) the engine won't turn over. I
suspect you've found your problem - by the fact that you had to wiggle the
lower connection a little to get it to work would indicate a bad connection
on the lower terminal. During this test, neither the solenoid nor the upper
solenoid terminal is in the circuit -- this test bypasses the solenoid so the
starter itself can be tested. The starter would appear to be OK. Reconnect
everything and try to start the engine with the ignition key. As you do,
wiggle the lower connection a bit and see what happens.
As for turning the upper terminal, I haven't experienced this myself, and
it's been a while since I looked at the internals of a solenoid, so I can't
say for certain one way or another. It doesn't sound unreasonable, though,
and if someone has experienced it, it sounds plausible.
Apologies for not getting back sooner. I just a few moments ago fired up the
engine in my stock TR6 , after spending the last three days putting it
together, trying to get it ready for the car show Saturday. Thank goodness,
it started up on cue, and is running smooth!
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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