Hi Guys, I have an 88 camaro and just got done finishing up my header and y-pipe install. I forgot to take some pics of the starter wires before removing them. Car power is on when I turn the key but no click at all. What do I have wired wrong with the starter? Picture is attached. Thanks!

 

I don't see anything wrong with your starter wiring. Try cleaning all the terminals. You would be amazed how much voltage drop a little corrosion causes.

Purple wire is the switch that turns the starter on and off. If you want to troubleshoot, then remove the purple wire (for your safety so engine doesn't crank) and have somebody turn the key switch to crank position while you measure voltage on the Purple wire. You should see battery voltage whenever they try to crank. If not, then you have a problem with the starting circuit. If there is voltage then you have a problem with the starter solenoid.

 

Hi QwkTrip, thanks for the quick reply! The starter worked fine prior to removing it from my car to do the header install. When it was off the car I cleaned the terminals on all the wires that connected to it to get the rust off of them so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll try your advice on what you mentioned above.

 

I measured the voltage of the purple wire with it off while cranking and it showed voltage. It must be a bad solenoid then on the starter. Very weird how it worked fine before I took it off, must've been on it's way out.

 

Do you hear any kind of click from the starter when you try to crank? Listen in the engine bay while somebody tries to crank.

When the solenoid actuates it throws the pinion gear and closes the solenoid contacts. The closing of solenoid contacts complete the circuit for the high power motor that does the cranking. If the solenoid is actuating, then you should at least hear a faint "click" from the contacts closing, or a louder "thwock" from the pinion hitting engine ring gear. I try my best to find words for the sounds.

I am also assuming your battery isn't pretty much dead right now. Even a dead battery will show 12V until you put a load on it (like a starter).

 

Battery was at 90% charged when I tested the power last time on the purple wire. When I had the key turned all the way the multi-meter showed voltage of around 12.04 on dcv. The prongs on the multi-meter seemed a little sensitive because sometimes it was reading over 100.

As far as when it's being turned over, I hear the fuel pump prime. I don't hear any other clicks or thwacks besides that. I listened from down by the starter when I was testing this. I also read it could be a neutral safety switch so I tried putting it in neutral and turning it on and no dice. I did try to hit it with a hammer as well when it was being cranked over to see if that worked but it didn't.

I'll throw the battery on the charger and get it to 100% and try again. One thing that I did have issues with before working on the headers was when I would try to turn the car on from a cold start it would crank for a while (4-20 seconds) before starting. When the car was warmed up already it would crank over right away or in the lower 4 second range. Wondering if this is a sign of the starter going bad?

 

Purple wire looks to be on the wrong terminal.

The "S" terminal is usually the one closer to the block. Looks like you have it on the "R" terminal. Can't see clearly if there's another small terminal in the pic though; but there should be.

 

You've got my curiosity peaked now. What is an R terminal on a starter motor? Is it some kind of accessory terminal to drive something on the car only during cranking? I just never heard of it before.

 

"R" = "Relay"

From the old points distributor days; sent full batt voltage to the coil while starting instead of it passing through the ballast resistor

Most solenoids you see around don't seem to have it anymore, but some still do

 

Well sorry, Red_Dragon, I mislead you.

 

Here's a better picture of they way I have it wired. Looks like it is in fact on the "R" terminal. Guessing it should be on the one across from it? If so I'll try to switch it over quick and try it out. Thanks for the help guys!

 

Yup, the little "R" probably means that's the "R" terminal...

Definitely, changing it to the "S" terminal (the one with the little "S" next to it that you can see part of in the pic) will increase the odds of it working. No guarantees but it's worth a shot.

 

Switched the purple power wire from the "R" terminal to the "S" terminal and it fired right up! Thanks for all the help guys!