Non starter revisited

[decoupe]

My ongoing saga of starting issues seems to have resolved itself but that doesn't give me much comfort. Starting first crack in the spring to occasional non starts in the summer to absolutely nothing but push starting in October lead to replacement of the ignition switch, new starter solenoid and refurbished starter, new ground strap engine to chassis - new ground at battery and every connection in the ignition circuit checked and cleaned. And still nothing.

At that point (end of October), all I had was the solenoid closing but the starter did nothing. Zip. Squat. Nada. Bugger all. So just for the hell of it I pulled the leads from the solenoid spades and ran a 10 gauge wire from the copper braided wire connecting the solenoid to starter to ground. Hot wired it in other words.

The starter spun but did not engage so the starter was ok sort of? Hooked up the ignition leads to solenoid, got into the car and turned the key.....and it started! Shut it off and did it again and started. I've done that almost every day since and it starts first time every time. I have no idea what made the difference. I can't point to something and say that was what was wrong.

But it does start. Any theories?

Doug

 

[Mario L.]

Doug,

Check the quality of the individual connections of the ignition wires you altered at the end, I suspect you have high resistance between the wires of the conductor and the crimped on cable ends. Often times the individual copper strands that make up the wire get corroded and there is no connection to the push on or eyelet connector.

Mario L.

 

[decoupe]

When I checked the connections on the ignition circuit at the solenoid (and anywhere else there was a join) I cut to expose "fresh copper" and soldered the connections then heat shrunk to protect.

Maybe (probably) doing all this helped but it was only after I hot wired the starter that it starting.

Doug

 

[Honolulu]

me...

I'm with Mario.

My '85 BMW K100RS (bike) would intermittently not start. Could NOT figure out why. R&R the ignition switch, several relays, starter, alternator, battery. Jumpered starter and relays. Bench tested relays.

Finally one evening I noticed the ground wire from trans case to battery negative was warm. Heat = resistance where there should be little or none. Rotated connector on case, no diff. Bent wire in/at crimped-on ring terminal, all was well.

Over time, (just) enough corrosion had built up between the crimped ring terminal and the wire strands inside. You couldn't see the corrosion. The terminal itself, and the spot on the trans case to which it mounted, were clean.

Made another 8 gage ground wire for less than 3 bucks from parts at the local marine hardware supply store. End of problem, and my horn works reliably now too.

 

[Mario L.]

Hot wiring the starter . . as I read this you bypassed some portion of the circuits to get the starter to work . . ?
You might check that skipped portion. Have you considered battery voltage, and battery condition. Or possibly a bad starter motor that only functions intermittently. We find this rarely, but when we do it's mostly with a rebuilt unit.

Mario L.

 

[decoupe]

Mario:

I think I found the culprit and like most of you of said, it is a connection on the ignition circuit. The spade connector at the solenoid. This in spite of a new solenoid, a tight clip that I cleaned with contact cleaner and soldering the connections. Even with all this the engine starts if I wiggle the connection. Next step is to replace the whole lead back to the ignition switch and I think that will do it.

Thanks to all who know better then I that the obvious is generally the solution.

Doug