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Re: Smokin' !!! (Once again, long!)

To: Stephane St-Amant <steph71tr6@crosswinds.net>
Subject: Re: Smokin' !!! (Once again, long!)
From: Howard Allen <Howard.Allen@fairchildsemi.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 13:38:05 -0400
Stephane;
Two possibilities suggest themselves, neither of which was caused by the
work you were doing.
1.) The solenoid contacts are burned (this would explain it clicking,
meaning the relay is operating properly) and the high resistance is not
allowing enough current to turn the starter over.  High resistance would
mean the solenoid would heat up quite a bit.
2.) The starter motor died.

1st make sure all connections between the motor, starter solenoid,
starter motor, and battery are clean clean clean.  Try again.
2nd to check the starter motor, take the jumper cables and connect one
clamp to the battery (I don't know if the '69 is positive ground or
negative ground, but whichever is ground for you, connect to the other
polarity).  Then taking the other end of the cable, touch the nut on the
large stud on the starter (make sure motor is in neutral and ignition
key is off).  There will be a large spark, but be prepared for this, the
starter motor should turn the engine over as long as you hold the clamp
to the stud's nut.  If you do not get the polarity right however, you
will short the battery and the motor will not turn and you will weld the
clamp to the starter stud so be very careful about what you are doing!! 
To prevent this possibility from occuring you might first like to
disconnect the starter motor heavy cable from the starter stud.  If you
do this, make sure you thread the nut back on and use it as the
electrical contact for you jumper cable end as you will protect the
threads from accidental damage due to the sparking and welding effect.

If the starter motor turns then it is likely that the contacts within
the starter solenoid are burned.  These sometimes can be repaired by
careful disassembly and filing, but more often then not you won't be
able to get it apart without breaking something.

Good luck
Howard in Maine

Stephane St-Amant wrote:
> 
> Ok everyone,
> 
> First off, I would like to thank everyone who helped with my bad 
>generator/control
> box/dying engine problem.  I still haven't resolved the problem yet but here
> are the latest developments.
> 
> Yesterday evening, I set out to clean all the connectors on the generator 
>(turned
> out that one of the wires was almost cut in two!), the control box and the 
>terminals
> at the battery.  Also, I took the generator off and cleaned all the mounting
> points to make sure I had good ground.
> 
> Put everything back together and turn the key.  All I heard was a click (from
> the solenoid) but the starter didn't turn.  So, my thought was that after all
> the electrical probs I had recently, the battery was too low.  So I decided
> to charge the battery for a few hours.
> 
> This morning, hoping to take the car to work and enjoy the beautifull weather,
> I go in the car, and try to start it... Click again but nothing else.  Battery
> dead?  Decided to boost with the Honda.  Still, only a click.  Check the 
>battery
> voltage 12 volts (14volts while being boosted).  Check voltage at between the
> negative terminal of the battery and the solenoid terminal that goes to the
> starter: 8 volts?!?  After spraying some WD-40 (to remove humidity) and tried
> to start again, same click but also smoke from the solenoid!  The WD-40 was
> burning off!!!
> 
> Question is, is this one way solenoids die or do I have ground problem 
>somewhere?
>  Could the cleaning of the connection now let all the "juice" available go 
>through
> and the old solenoid cna't take that much power anymore?  I'm I totally lost
> in left field?
> 
> Also, I noticed that the ignition light doesn't come on when I turn the key
> to the ON position like it should do.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Thanks again folks
> Stef
> '69 Spit - Currently attacked buy very vicious gremlins!!!
> '71 TR6 - What? I have a TR6? Where? Oh yeah! Under all the boxes!!!

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