[Gregski]

OK, I don't have a starter solenoid, the starter is on the engine and I hook up the negative from a good battery to the engine block as my ground, and I tap the positive battery cable aligator clamp on the positive bolt on the starter and it won't spin, why?

I thought it should spin and it just won't engage the fly wheel because there is no starter solenoid to make it move the gear forward.

[Gregski]

in case something was binding, i decided to take the starter off the engine, then I had the bright idea of using a battery charger set to "Engine Start" to try and get it to spin, that did not work

since i couldn't spin the gear by hand both ways, I decided to take the starter apart inspect the brushes and clean it up a bit with electronic parts cleaner, battery cleaner for the corosion, and trusty WD40, after I cleaned it I could now spin it by hand

I tried the battery charger trick again and it still did not work, so I started my truck and hooked up jumper cables to it and hooked up the negative to the core, and tapped the positive on the side bolt, this made a few small sparks and still did not spin the starter

remember I am doing this to learn first, to do it right the first time is option two, plus I don't have much money to spend on this

tomorrow morning I will take it in to AutoZone and have them bench test it for me, I may pick up a brush kit for $15 bucks to learn how to rebuild a starter, I know what used brushes look like now, so if the new ones look in much better condition I will buy them

I'm learning and I'm having fun, got any ideas for me?

[1rnkpny]

You can probably buy a rebuilt starter with new bushings, bearing and brushes for <$50. That starter looks fried. Especially where your brushes run.

[Gregski]

Took my old starter to Auto Zone today and had them test it. It ran great very strong. So it is good and I don't need a new starter. Now I don't know what the hell is going on. Someone pointed out that maybe using battery jumper cables I'm not making a good enough connection, well the machine at Auto Zone uses aligator clamps that are even smaller than the massive ones on my jumper cables and it works great. My friend works there and he showed me how he was hooking it up, basically the exact same way as I was at home.

I came home and took the battery out of my truck and put it on my garage floor, that way I could make a better connection on the top terminal posts without going over the existing terminals and things getting in the way. This time the starter spun slowly but the bendix did not jump forward.

I tried putting my battery charger on the battery set on AUTO START (as in boost the amps to start the car) and from there I ran the jumper cables to the starter and still the starter barely spun.

This is driving me crazy my dad and I used to test starters on the garage floor or in the appartment parking lot with our foot on them and they went zooom way fast, what the heck is up with this one.

[1rnkpny]

If it barely spins then you have something that is using the current. I would make sure your battery terminals, solenoid, and terminal on the starter are clean. Do you have a ground strap that leads from the engine to the body, is it free of corrosion and rust. You could have a solenoid that has high resistance internally. Take a wire brush to all of your terminals to clean them up and let me know.

[Gregski]

So I went to a junk yard where I bought some battery cables among other things. I cleaned the heck out of the cables and bolted them on to the battery terminals and bolted the positive cable to the bolt on the starter. Then I tapped the neggative cable to the starter housing and whalla it spins like mad and the bendix jumps forward. I owe a beer to the guys who kept saying you must have a good connection and the battery cables may not be enough. Guys thank you very much for all your help this will be the last of this post I promise. Feels good to learn something and have it work.



See the picture of the Poor Man's Starter Bench Test Setup:

[1rnkpny]

Awesome to hear. Let me know if you have any other question. Feel free to ask.