I am having a prob with a starter/solenoid, ? I get a click on the small block chevy starter sometimes, but not all of the time. Sometimes I have to try it 3,4,5... times and other times it stsarts like a champ. Hot or cold makes no difference. the starter and solonoid are nearly new5 months or so. [permanant magnet little one] I replaced the key switch and have traced all of my wires and found all looks good. does a solenoid do this? help an old, mentally challanged rodder figure this one. thanks
grounds grounds clean all connections of rust and new painrt electrical must all touch metal surfaces not just bolts and threads. dash to body starter to engine too add another ground strap from engine to frame and complete the circuit
The most common problem causing this is dirty battery terminals. Before any open heart surgery check and wire brush all of the connections in the battery cables both pos and neg. I hope the ground cable is connected directly to the block or something directly bolted to the block. Any connection in the battery cable loop can cause this problem. The starter motor was only about 40 bucks then but.... I layed on the macadam in 15 degree weather changing my perfectly good starter motor only to find out that the battery terminals needed to be cleaned. That has a way of sticking in your brain 40 years later. This was a common service provided with a tuneup back in the day.
Starter motor solenoids have 2 x windings 1 is the pull in winding, which finds its ground through the brushes + armature (high amp draw winding Once the pull in winding closes the bus bar/plunger to get battery power on the brushes, the hold in winding takes over. this one goes from start terminal to ground. Without the hold in winding, the solenoid would chatter - you see, once the plunger engages, there is + on the brushes now (no more ground, so how can the plunger stay in with 2 x positives at each side?) Maybe the holding winding could be crook? Otherwise, reduction starters had a problem with the big copper contacts...if they're not even, the plunger will pull in, but both contacts are not always bridged rightly by the plunger. (the batt side contact wears out faster than the motor side one) 1. test solenoid windings 2. check plunger + contacts 3. check brushes + armature only do this after you've made sure all battery cables + connections are clean + tight first.
I was going to suggest that but he said "small starter" not stock, I've never had one of those solenoids apart...............but that's where I would start.
the part where it starts like a champ, then sometimes, click, click, click, start makes me think one of the brushes is occasionally landing on a bad segment on the armature. If it were a bad connection at the battery cables, or anywhere in between, it would be a bad connection all the time. But not always. (bet hedging)
It could be a bad connection, but those have been more of a constant and not a once in a while thing from my experience. I would just clean up everything as others have suggested as a good practice. Do the free stuff first. In the past, when I had a similar problem, I'd give the starter case a whack with a hammer and most of the time it would start. As a permanent solution, I'd pull the starter and have it checked by an auto-electric shop. Bob
Is it a Nippon Denso type ministarter? If so check the contacts and plunger in the solenoid. Be sure the contacts sit flat and that the plunger slides freely. Remember new doesn't always = good.
whacking old shunt field starters was ok just to get you going that one last time...a whack to get it working meant you were out of brushes. NEVER whack a permanent magnet field starter...you can bust the magnets, and sieze the armature, thereby frying your cables. BAD idea.
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