Starter spins, but gear does not pop out

87SS

Dragway Regular
Jul 18, 2004
975
0
0
Hillsborough, NJ
www.cardomain.com
My buddy needed a starter last week, so since I am a little behind him in finishing my car I gave him the starter I had.

I got a lot of work done on the car this week after work and wanted to finish the wiring today, so I decided to just go get an Autozone starter from a mid 90s truck with a 454 like others have used and let him keep my old starter. It bolted in great and I wired it to my remote solenoid on the fender. I finally connected my last wire to the bump switch and figured "lets see if the bump switch works". The starter spins great, but the gear does not pop out. I checked my voltage and it was around 11.5 (garage has been cold lately).

Tomorrow I am going to try connecting the negative on the battery in the trunk to a better source in case that is it. What I was not sure is if I connected the wiring correctly on the starter. On my old starter there was just 1 large and 1 small terminal. This starter has 2 large, 1 small. I connected the battery cable to the large terminal that had a wire connected to it from the starter itself, then a link wire between that large terminal and the smaller terminal. Should I not connect to that large terminal and link and connect the battery cable to the other larger terminal?

Here is a close up picture, should help explain it a little better. Such a shot to the gut after getting so close to finishing the wiring of the car. :D

Starter.jpg
 

WEBBER

Pro Stocker
Apr 25, 2004
1,828
0
0
80 miles west of Joliet IL.
To start off with 11.5 volts means you got a dead battery.
 

87SS

Dragway Regular
Thread starter
Jul 18, 2004
975
0
0
Hillsborough, NJ
www.cardomain.com
I was planning on charging the battery tomorrow, it has been sitting.

I did not think 11.5 was that low, but you may be right. I guess too low a voltage would stop the gear from popping.

For some reason I did not even realize there was another large terminal until I looked at it today. When I wired it this past week maybe I was just going from task to task quickly but it never came across my mind that maybe I should be using the other terminal. So jumper the small and other large terminal together along with the battery cable from the remote solenoid. That leaves the other large terminal (that I have my stuff connected to right now) with nothing but the short cable from the starter body.
 

87SS

Dragway Regular
Thread starter
Jul 18, 2004
975
0
0
Hillsborough, NJ
www.cardomain.com
Sounds like a better plan than dropping the header to get the starter out and going back to Autozone :mrgreen:

I will try it tomorrow morning.
 

LS6 Tommy

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 15, 2004
15,847
1
38
North Jersey
malibumick said:
by placing the battery lead on that post, you are bypassing the solenoid. you are energizing the starter motor only.

You beat me to it!

Tommy
 

87SS

Dragway Regular
Thread starter
Jul 18, 2004
975
0
0
Hillsborough, NJ
www.cardomain.com
I just swapped the wires over and it works perfectly. As always, you guys know your sh*t.

Thanks again, my car wouldn't be nearly this far along without your guys help and this website. :D
 

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