Starter Dragging????

Discussion in 'Technical' started by Moneymaker 1, Sep 11, 2012.

  1. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    Turning my engine over it turns real slow, the wire coming off the solenoid going to the starter gets red hot!! this is a brand new starter, but to me it seems to be dragging, sound right to ya'll? I hate to have to pull it but i'm thinking I have no choice.....thought I would get second, third, fourth and so on opinions :hmmm:
     
  2. rthomas771

    rthomas771 Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2008
    Messages:
    8,092
    Likes Received:
    981
    Trophy Points:
    498
    Garage:
    1
    Location:
    GA
    Vehicle:
    '74 Maverick 302 5-Speed.'60 Falcon V8. '63.5 Falcon HT
    Is the 'solenoid to starter wire' really a wire or is it a heavy cable? Connections clean and tight? Starter grounded good? Cheap discount auto parts starter?
     
  3. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    Wire from solenoid to starter is about 3/8", all connections are new and fresh, starter is grounded by bolts that hold it to the scatter shield, starter is reman. from CarQuest...the only place that had one in stock, wire turns red hot at the metal lug connecting to the solenoid.
     
  4. rthomas771

    rthomas771 Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2008
    Messages:
    8,092
    Likes Received:
    981
    Trophy Points:
    498
    Garage:
    1
    Location:
    GA
    Vehicle:
    '74 Maverick 302 5-Speed.'60 Falcon V8. '63.5 Falcon HT
    Is the scatter shield grounded to frame? The starter needs a ground and it can't get a good ground through rubber motor mounts and rubber transmission mount. You say the cable is about 3/8"...Cheap cables will have thicker insulation making it look like a thick cable and will have fewer strains of wire inside (plastic is cheaper than copper). It could be the starter is pulling a lot of amps. See if they will swap it out for another starter
     
  5. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    I have a ground wire running straight from the battery to the block, I have played with the timing and I do have fire to the plugs now, just won't spin over fast enough to start up.
     
  6. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    Ok went out to recheck the timing, turning engine over with a breaker bar to get to TDC, suddenly stopped like it's stuck on something (like the starter)I could hear it when it stopped the clunk came from the starter area, gonna pull it tomorrow and see what's going on in there.
     
  7. simple man

    simple man Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2009
    Messages:
    1,507
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Bunnell,Florida
    Vehicle:
    74 Maverick - 82 Ford Ranger,one of the first ones made!
    Does the whole cable get hot or only that end at the solenoid? If it's only at the solenoid, double check that connection. It could be that the terminal end on the cable was not installed properly. I've had that happen before! :)
    This is what I found when I pulled one of my starter cables apart!
    [​IMG]
     
  8. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    Terminal end gets red, gonna change it all out tomorrow and see whats up.
     
  9. Mavman72

    Mavman72 Gone backwards but lookin' forward

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2007
    Messages:
    6,759
    Likes Received:
    272
    Trophy Points:
    273
    Location:
    Buffalo N.Y.
    Vehicle:
    1972 Maverick 2 door.Original V-8 3 spd std shift.Also a 72 one owner Sprint sporting a 351 Windsor
    Is the engine a fresh re-build...(They can be tight) Has the engine been run yet???
    Wheres your battery??? Is it in the trunk???
    Get the starter draw tested
    Is your battery good??? Fully charged???
     
  10. Jsarnold

    Jsarnold Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2008
    Messages:
    2,842
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    102
    Location:
    Raleigh, North Carolina
    Vehicle:
    '72 Sprint
    Before you take things apart you could install a new cable from the solenoid to the starter and see if that fixes it. If its getting red hot at the terminal I suspect a bad terminal-to-cable connection as suggested above. Or, if you don't have the new cable yet, you could bypass the cable from the solenoid to the starter with a good jumper cable and see if that fixes it. I like to try the easy fixes first.
     
  11. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    No the engine is not a fresh rebuild, I have done some work on it but have not run it as of yet, battery is still up front and is brand new, it is definately something with the starter, I'll let ya'll know tomorrow.
     
  12. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,933
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Panama City Florida
    Vehicle:
    1972 Green Maverick Grabber Street Beasts
    Ok got out there early while it was cool and took the starter off, stuff was falling out of it, apparently the overunning clutch fell apart and caused it to lock up, this was the wrong starter for my engine and tranny combo anyhow, they didn't have another correct one so I got a refund and went to Panama Alt. & Starter, picked up a WPS gear reduction starter for $107.00 and brought it home and installed it within minutes!!
    Turned the key and wooooop woooop vroooom it fired up :yahoo:bout time I tell ya, now to finish up the engine/tranny install and get a new fuel pump on there as the one I have is bad and it's on to the brakes and body along with the interior finally, stay tuned to my project thread for more as I will be moving along pretty quickly now.
    Green HotWheels Street Beasts
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2012
  13. darren

    darren Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2009
    Messages:
    4,852
    Likes Received:
    45
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    East of Dave
    Vehicle:
    72 302 Maverick

    Good stuff
     

Share This Page