kmead
Old enough to know better
Did you bench test it using jumper cables and a short length of wire to the solenoid?
First car project, help to turn engine
- Thread starter NJJo
- Start date
Rupunzell
Bernice Loui
Bench test the starter...
Using a fully charged 12 volt car battery... with extreme care, short circuit or connections coming undone during this test will flame-on, Instantly.
~Secure the starter to something solid, it will JUMP due to the rotating forces involved upon run-up.
~connect the black clip of the jumper cable to the starter housing.
~With a good set of jumper cables, connect the starter +power (usually M8 threaded stud) to red clip of the jumper cable.
~Connect a small jumper wire from the starter solenoid connector, this is usually a push on spade connector or smaller M5 / M4 stud on the solenoid housing, other end of this wire is bare and kept far away from all else in this lash up.
~Connect the red jumper cable clip to the battery positive terminal, connect the black jumper cable clip to the battery negative terminal..
~Touch the bare end of the wire from the solenoid connection to the battery positive power on the starter, if all is good, the starter will jump-run.
Bernice
Yes, I even cleaned the Starter a second time for good measure. It went up, it turned, had a neighbor come over and he said that starter is working properly.
Battery is brand new, 12v on the reading. 12v on the ground connection to car. I'm going to get under the car and test all the wires today. I'm going to put the starter back on and give it another whirl.
I'm connecting the brown and green to the hot terminal on starter and I put a new crimp on the 12v wire into the solenoid. Going to test all that today (now actually) and go from there.
Noticed a couple things trying to start that car. The gas pedal stays down when pressed. I put 5 gallons of gas in the tank and the fuel gauge didn't move.
kmead
Old enough to know better
Make sure the ground wire from the transmission to the body gets removed, connections cleaned and replaced. If it looks too degraded get a similar length unit from Napa at least 6ga
Replacing the negative battery cable to the body is also a good thing to replace. Clean the firewall connection for the ground at the same time.
Over time the ignition switch can fail due to the buildup of carbon and not be able to deliver the voltage/amperage to excite the solenoid.
As for the gas pedal it should snap back with your foot. Finding the reason for it not doing so would be high on your list before really starting the engine.
Gas pedal fixed! Saw other posts about the bushing and spring needing a lot of lubrication to get unstuck.
I've cleaned the connections and checked the meter. It's all working on that end. The car sounds like it wants to turn over so badly but can't. I'm going to be checking the compression and spark plugs, belts, and go from there.
kmead
Old enough to know better
Turn over or start?
No
I'm not getting any spark on the spark plugs atm. Having a buddy who does car work come out tomorrow to check the starter again.
kmead
Old enough to know better
So not turning over and obviously not starting. OK.
Have you verified any electricity is coming from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid through the 10ga red wire which goes on the male terminal on the starter solenoid? If yes, is the female connector tight on the male terminal?
Have you verified any electricity is coming from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid through the 10ga red wire which goes on the male terminal on the starter solenoid? If yes, is the female connector tight on the male terminal?
Yes, I'll take pictures today of everything, that'll help explain it better.
Does the starter have anything to do with spark plugs not getting any sparks? I didn't think it did?
kmead
Old enough to know better
No but the engine has to be turning over to get spark.
I'm getting a new starter. Anything good online or just take it to an auto shop?
MikeHynes
True Classic
I highly recommend the gear reduction starter.
www.midwest-bayless.com
Starter SOHC 1500 5-Spd - GEAR REDUCTION Starter (Fiat Bertone X1/9) - NEW
Starter SOHC 1500 5-Spd - GEAR REDUCTION Starter (Fiat Bertone X1/9) - NEW
www.midwest-bayless.com
Yeah, I'm having terrible luck finding anything that fits. The ones that do are all "out of stock" and can't place an order. I found something similar and saw a post on here about it.I highly recommend the gear reduction starter.
Starter SOHC 1500 5-Spd - GEAR REDUCTION Starter (Fiat Bertone X1/9) - NEW
Starter SOHC 1500 5-Spd - GEAR REDUCTION Starter (Fiat Bertone X1/9) - NEW
kmead
Old enough to know better
You aren’t likely to find many parts nearby.
Yes that Strada starter should work just fine if you don’t want to go with Mid-west Bayless, Autoricambi.us or Fiatplus who carry all the other parts you need for your car.
Thanks! I don't care who I go with, I have Prime so the 2 day shipping is ideal.
Russe11
True Classic
When I bought my car, back in 2013, the seller told me that the starter didn't work. When I took it out to check it over, it seemed to work fine when tested as outlined above. The reason it wouldn't work when installed was that the piston rings were rusted to the bores of the cylinders to the point that the starter couldn't budge it. Fortunately, we were able to free it up - but it required complete disassembly of the engine.
Things like that are why people were telling you to make sure the engine itself is free to turn. But even if it is siezed, chances are good that you can get it going again.
Brian
Things like that are why people were telling you to make sure the engine itself is free to turn. But even if it is siezed, chances are good that you can get it going again.
Brian
That is super excellent news!
I would be inclined to work on "stay started" before you start in on the clutch because there's a lot of stuff do with
ignition and clearing the old fuel gunk out of the system and you can do all of that with transmission in neutral no matter what's going on with the clutch.
But the moment that you get "stay started" going, meaning that it idles properly, it's time to try driving it even if it's only up and down the driveway, and then it's time to get the clutch right. The best sequence is to try bleeding first and do a complete flush of the fluid, if you get no air during the flush then you'll be replacing either or both of the slave (easy job) or the master (unpleasant because of the cramped space under the dash). If you have to do the master, flush the brake fluid and bleed the brakes first - there's a fair chance that if one master is bad so is the other and you do not want to go in under the dash twice. If you do have to replace either or both masters, I'd also replace the lines from fluid reservoir to master cylinder with new brake-fluid safe tubing - I'm partial to the appropriate Tygon formulations, clear and easily routed.
Thank you, awesome advice! I spoke too soon, I was going to work on the fuel tank before the clutch. I've been watching ChrisFix's youtube videos and I'm going to drop the tank and clean it all out. Then it'll be on to the next step. If not, I'll be ordering a new fuel tank from Midwest.
On a side note, I'm going to be updating the car stereo. Would anyone be able to tell me what kits and adapters to get? I know it's single din but the wires are too old school for me.
The jeep is my neighbors, I thought it was cool!