Hello fellow olds owners,

here is a problem I'm having with my starting circuit. So it began on day when I tried to crank the ole girl she wasn't having that. So I first thought Battery? no that seemed good, when I tried to crank it the warning lights would just dim. So I thought the battery was ok, I pulled the starter hmm, the starter solenoid screws had worked loose well took it to rebuild shop and thought that would fix problem, nope. still did the same things even after I took the starter back to the shop and it checked good? Ok, what doesn't seem right? I used another battery from another vehicle i have, and that cranked the starter if I used a direct lead from the battery to the s terminal on the starter? Ok starter good, Battery now good, leads all checked out, only thing left is the ignition switch. So I have one on order, but not sure how that will go either. May be a separate ignition switch to just crank the starter? hate to consider that, hope the new switch fixes the situation.

This has been a tough one, I think the initial solenoid separating from the starter maybe caused a whole lot of unusual stuff.

thought - advice?

Thx Sixtyfour

 

Test to make sure your getting power to start wire on starter when in start position first. If no power make sure your getting power out of switch.If power is getting thru switch then you know its probably broken wire. Wires can break inside without the coating breaking. May be right at starter terminal being the solenoid was loose and vibrating around that's where i would look first.

 

Follow the purple wire from the ignition switch to a connector that would have ordinarily plugged into the neutral safety switch for an automatic. There will be a jumper wire in the plug to complete that circuit to allow the starter to engage. If that area is good, check voltage along the way through the bulkhead connector to the starter S terminal and see where it drops off.

 

You said you first thought the battery may be the problem but "no that seemed good". Was that based on the statement "the warnging lights would just dim"? If so, you must verify the battery is good by having a load test done on it.

 

When ever you have a problem like this, you should always do the simplest thing first. Take off the positive battery cable and clean post and terminal with a battery wire brush. Repeat for the negative. If that doesn't help undo one of the cables and go the the horn relay/junction block and remove the cables and clean them thoroughly with a wire brush. If that doesn't work you proceed to the next steps, I would make sure the ground from the battery is not loose where it connects to the engine, I'd also check the heaviest wire connected to the starter. Then I would probably drive the car for 20 min or so to charge the battery and then perform a load test on the battery. Next I'd drive close to the garage doors and turn on the headlights. Now try and start the car. Do the headlights dim? If they do that's good, it means your ignition and starter solenoid is working and it's probably your starter. If they don't dim at all, then you are not getting power to the starter solenoid. Could be ignition switch or wiring.

 

^^x2^^
Great advice. I'd hedge a bet towards a loose ground wire, corroded ground wire to the block or loose power (+) wire to the horn relay distribution/junction block. Thorough wire brush cleaning and ensure bare metal is visible on the distribution/junction block bolt where wires attach.