Since I was cleaning all my grounds and battery connections, I decided to clean my starter connection as well. But I'm a little confused as to what wire is what, especially that purple one.

The white stuff is battery connection protectant......couldn't get a good spray angle.

 

the orange wires are ure fuseable links and the big one with them is the power wire to the starter, should be constant 12v. those orange wires take power to the fusebox and headlights and such. the purple wire is the control wire that activates the solonoid when u turn the key to start the car.

 

Cool thanks.....but are you saying then, that all power to my vehicle first goes thru the starter? I also see red wires coming off my battery and going into those black tubed wiring harnesses. What do they go to?

Sorry for the questions, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can as I go and I'm fairly new to electronics

Thanks

 

technically it doesnt go through the starter just think of it as a remote mounting point, i think stock all the fuseable links are connected at the starter im not sure ive never seen one of our cars stock lol...just make sure everything is connected good and dont mess with things...

 

I know that one of the small wires coming off the battery going into the loom is for ecm power. There should be connectors that look like an o2 sensor connector on the positive cable. You disconnect it to clear codes. Not forsure what the other is for but it might be for the ecm also. I just disconnect them both when I need to clear codes.

 

In my Haynes '866' manual they refer to a PURPLE/WHITE (which means a PURPLE wire with a WHITE stripe) connects between the starter and the ECM. This wire is used to tell the ECM that the engine is being CRANKED and thus the ECM deals with its various sensors in a different way than when the engine is NOT being CRANKED (but is thus in RUN).

This wire diagram also shows that the PURPLE/WHITE wire has a fuse associated with it.

Generally a solid ORANGE wire means it is associated with a FUSE or FUSES at some point.

Also, generally, the heavier the wire diameter the higher the current it is expected to carry. The smaller the wire diameter the less current it is expected to carry.