I replaced my old delco-remy starter as the last time I tried starting my machine it was smoking. I cleaned all the contacts before installing new starter wired it up and it just clicks when I turn the key. The battery terminals are in good shape and the cables look to be undamaged and in good shape as well. Maybe I didn't clean the contacts enough? Pictures below of the old starter wired up and the new starter wired up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
On the second picture it looks like something else is supposed to be on that post with the green wire but is bent out of the way
Anyway, if you jump from the battery (big terminal) to the smaller green terminal the starter should click and spin.
Thanks for the reply. I'll double check all my connections again and try that.
So I tried that and one of the relays clicks once. Better picture of wiring
You need a helper. Connect a volt meter to the terminal that has the white/green wire (start signal wire). Have your helper hit start on key switch in cab while you check how much voltage is on that white/green wire. You should see a good nominal 12V. If you're seeing anything less than 9 to 10 volt then you have some serious voltage drop happening somewhere. I'm guessing you have an F series machine. Something I ran across years ago, had an F series with voltage problem. Finally found the problem. All those red wires connected to the battery post of the starter are power supply wires for all functions of the electrical system. I discovered one of those wires wasn't making a connection inside the terminal where wire is crimped. To look at it from the outside it looked good, but probing the wire showed it wasn't making a connection under load. Cut the old terminal off, crimped on a new one, problem solved.
Thanks for your reply. We got 11.29 as a voltage reading
Ohh Kay, that's plenty sufficient voltage to light up a starter solenoid. What kinda shape is the ground cable between battery and starter? The ground cable connects to that bottom starter mount bolt. For $hits and giggles, get a set of jumper cables, use only the black ground cable, connect that black cable to the negative post of the battery and the bottom bolt of the starter mount and see what happens.
Does that starter have a second small post, opposite the one the green wire is on? Just make sure green (start) wire is on the post marked "S" The voltage reading you took, was the ground reference the starter body? If not retest. Also, . . . Surely the engine isn't tight?
On the F series with the Delco starter they didn't use an R terminal on the starter, only the S terminal, the solenoid was self grounding.
And I've seen aftermarket starters with the R terminal on the opposite side from the original. ..
True, and that R terminal is typically used to control something, like trip a relay or send a signal to an ECU when the solenoid is engaged, but the solenoid is still self grounding.
Yup. Just trying to make sure the OP doesn't have the start wire on a misplaced R terminal, with the S terminal hidden on the back of the solenoid.
Yes, there's another post had a black cap on it. Thanks guys
Anyone old enough to remember what the "R" terminal was designed for? Back in the 50's,60's and early 70's (pre electronic ignitions), engines had a ignition coil controlled by a set of points and condenser in the distributor. In run mode, 12 vdc was sent to the ignition system but through a resister (ether a ballast resistor or resistor wire). That would reduce the running voltage to 8 or so volts to reduce wear of the points. The engines would run fine like that but cold starts were a bitch. The "R" terminal on the starter is a 12 vdc output terminal In start mode (starter spinning) 12 vdc is sent from the starter to the ignition system, bypassing the resistor and putting a full 12 vdc providing a hotter spark for easier starting
Not just through 70's and breaker points, my '85 300 Six, vacuum electronic distributor, coil, Duraspark ignition controller. When you crank it the R terminal sends a voltage signal to a wire on the Duraspark to advance the timing to assist starting. Once you release the start position, advance is controlled by the vacuum pot on the distributor.
The good old days (Not)