I am redoing most of the wiring in my vehicle and have starter specific question. I have a mini starter and am using a digital volt meter for testing

One wire going to the starter is hooked up to the battery and supply's a constant +12v... The other wire when connected to a +12v source causes the started to engage and spin (starting the engine). If I have my digital volt meter with one lead grounded and the other lead connected to the +12 that causes the starter to engage AND have the digital volt meter set shows at trace signal I am seeing a connection to ground on this lead (with the vehicles ignition disconnected).

Is this normal?

The starter operates fine when I have the ignition key hooked up and when I have the ignition hooked up I am also seeing the ground trace signal at the crank fuse when the ignition is off.... When I turn the key to the start position he ground trace signal goes away.

 

What kind of DVM do you have. It sounds like your DVM is completed the circuit and may be bad.