jdubois
Jedi Warrior
Offline
So the starter on my TR3A has been barely hanging on the last few years, and when I went to start the car up for the first time in about three months, it just didn't want to turn over quick enough to get the car started.
No problem, I went ahead and ordered a new starter, they're cheap enough, and did a bit of "while I'm in there" stuff while the carbs were off the car. Well, I got the new starter in today, thinking finally I'll be able to get this thing on the road. It spins great! For about 5 seconds. Then stops completely and all I get from the starter button is the solenoid 'click'.
So I go about trying to figure out if it's really the starter, or if the solenoid failed, or if my battery doesn't have enough juice. Solenoid was fine, even tried a spare I've got. Battery was fully charged, even took it down and had it load tested. Fine. Hmm... so I put a meter on to test the cable from the solenoid to the starter. Not grounded. Not open. Solenoid makes the connection from battery hot to starter cable when I press the button (without battery connected)...
Ok, let me hook the battery back up and check the voltage at the starter when I hit the start button. Hmm, only 8 volts. Don't know if that's a normal drop or not, but I'm thinking I shouldn't get any drop if the starter isn't turning. Uhh, hold on... it's still 8 volts after I've let go of the button. Errr... that's smoke coming out of the solenoid. Now the battery cables are melting... Trying to get something disconnected. $%#$^! those cables are hot. This could get bad. Where's the extinguisher? Finally got the ground cable off the battery. Ok, I'm so done with this car tonight.
Now I'm gonna have to pull this stupid starter, and figure out if I had any collateral damage from the incident (other than the battery cables, obviously). But, at least I had a nice shake down drive to work in the Spit this morning!
No problem, I went ahead and ordered a new starter, they're cheap enough, and did a bit of "while I'm in there" stuff while the carbs were off the car. Well, I got the new starter in today, thinking finally I'll be able to get this thing on the road. It spins great! For about 5 seconds. Then stops completely and all I get from the starter button is the solenoid 'click'.
So I go about trying to figure out if it's really the starter, or if the solenoid failed, or if my battery doesn't have enough juice. Solenoid was fine, even tried a spare I've got. Battery was fully charged, even took it down and had it load tested. Fine. Hmm... so I put a meter on to test the cable from the solenoid to the starter. Not grounded. Not open. Solenoid makes the connection from battery hot to starter cable when I press the button (without battery connected)...
Ok, let me hook the battery back up and check the voltage at the starter when I hit the start button. Hmm, only 8 volts. Don't know if that's a normal drop or not, but I'm thinking I shouldn't get any drop if the starter isn't turning. Uhh, hold on... it's still 8 volts after I've let go of the button. Errr... that's smoke coming out of the solenoid. Now the battery cables are melting... Trying to get something disconnected. $%#$^! those cables are hot. This could get bad. Where's the extinguisher? Finally got the ground cable off the battery. Ok, I'm so done with this car tonight.
Now I'm gonna have to pull this stupid starter, and figure out if I had any collateral damage from the incident (other than the battery cables, obviously). But, at least I had a nice shake down drive to work in the Spit this morning!