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Motor won't turn over

T

Twainrider

New member
I have a bit of a mystery, hoping you guys can help me out. My motor (1980 Chrysler 115 hp) will not turn over or even click at the solenoid. I have power at the key switch, batt red wire, Acc blue wire when the key switch is turned and power at the yellow wire at the key switch when I turn the key all the way.

I have power at the battery side of the positive cable at the solenoid. And I have power at the yellow wire at the solenoid when I turn the key. But no power to the starter.

I tried to jump the solenoid from the battery side positive to the yellow start wire at the solenoid but got nothing. I attached battery jump cables to the starter and ground and it did spin. The fuse under the terminal block is set. However, I did find it tripped a while back and re-set it. This motor hasn't been started in a while. But it used to turn over. The neutral safety switch button is depressed. I've gone through and checked for loose connections.

I'm out of things to check as far as I know. Does anybody have more ideas?
 
Test light?? TL=test light.
TL at the yellow yellow/red on the solenoid, turn key, should have light.
TL at the big lugs on the solenoid. Should have light at the battery cable lead.
TL at the lug going to the starter, turn key, should have light?? no light? = bad solenoid.
TL at Ignition switch= Red should have light. TL at yellow/red turn key should have light, no light= bad switch.
 
Jerryjerry05 said:
Test light?? TL=test light.
TL at the yellow yellow/red on the solenoid, turn key, should have light.
TL at the big lugs on the solenoid. Should have light at the battery cable lead.
TL at the lug going to the starter, turn key, should have light?? no light? = bad solenoid.
TL at Ignition switch= Red should have light. TL at yellow/red turn key should have light, no light= bad switch.
Click to expand...
Thanks JerryJerry! From the tests you suggested it's the solenoid. I swapped it for another old solenoid that worked last year and got the same result, so assumed it was something else. I do wonder if that solenoid can be put on backwards? There were no markings, so I was unsure...
 
Twainrider said:
Thanks JerryJerry! From the tests you suggested it's the solenoid. I swapped it for another old solenoid that worked last year and got the same result, so assumed it was something else. I do wonder if that solenoid can be put on backwards? There were no markings, so I was unsure...
Click to expand...
Make sure the crank wire is on the correct post.
 
Shazamm! Well the mystery deepens. I went out to swap and test solenoids and turned the key and it jumped. So I put gas to it and it fired up right away and ran strong! Turned it off and on several times. This motor has sat for years, I'm amazed that it started up so quick. I have put a lot of time into cleaning it up and fussing with it. It's my science project $200 motor.
 
To answer your question, the solenoid is basically a switch. It can't be wired incorrectly. When current passes through the small wires, it activates an electro-magnet that causes a disc to slam down and create contact between the two large contacts. It's a simple way to use light low amperage cuttent to to go all the way from the key switch to the starter solenoid to make the contact needed to turn the starter. Otherwise, you'd have to have heavy battery cable sized wires going all the way to the console and connecting to a huge switch to start the motor.
 
i worked at a service station almost 50 years ago. We used to be able to buy a solenoid rebuild kit! It cost about $3 at the time. The solenoid was actually held together by long screws and you opened it up, replaced the disc that made contact, the spring and you used a little sandpaper to clean the contacts inside and it was as good as new again! Yours is probably just a bit stuck and using it a few times will probably free it up again. Take the old one apart and see how simple it is. We rebuilt starters, alternators, master cylinders, wheel cylinders and all of those rebuild kits were readily available at the auto parts store. Rebuild kits were cheap and once you did it a few times, it took about 30 minutes to rebuild any of those items. Good old days!!
 
Oldsaltydog said:
i worked at a service station almost 50 years ago. We used to be able to buy a solenoid rebuild kit! It cost about $3 at the time. The solenoid was actually held together by long screws and you opened it up, replaced the disc that made contact, the spring and you used a little sandpaper to clean the contacts inside and it was as good as new again! Yours is probably just a bit stuck and using it a few times will probably free it up again. Take the old one apart and see how simple it is. We rebuilt starters, alternators, master cylinders, wheel cylinders and all of those rebuild kits were readily available at the auto parts store. Rebuild kits were cheap and once you did it a few times, it took about 30 minutes to rebuild any of those items. Good old days!!
Click to expand...
Thanks Salty! Yeah I've seen diagrams showing how simple they are. Mine is riveted, but I suppose it could be drilled out. In any case, it turned out to be a loose ground on the terminal. Good to confirm that the solenoid is basically a switch and can be wired either way. I was pretty sure of that but read comments warning me to wire it the right way.
 
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