Ok starter on a V6 camaro........ the starter doesn't do anything now... U turn the key, and nothing happens, battery is charged, but we tried jumping it anyway. still nothing happend. Tried starting it in neutral, no start. tried jumping the two terminals on the solenoid, only sparks. But I did put my hand on the solenoid and i felt it click or whatever when the key was turned. Brought it up to autozone to have them test it. They hooked it up (wrong) and said it was fine. Even though they could't find the "R" terminal so they hooked that wire up to the solenoid-starter bridge thingy. and of course it smoked and sparked (guy was an idiot) but they said it worked. So would could be next?? I know there is a relay. But if the solenoid is clicking.. How exactly do i test the solenoid?? ( i hope im spelling it right) Or if the starter spins does that mean the solenoid is fine? I didn't look at the starter gear to see if it was engaging when they tested it.. But i figured its fine.

oh and some background information on the starter.. Its always had problems starting slowly, like it will turn, kinda pause and start over. slowly. even when jumping it.. Could it be the starter thats the problem and it test fine at autozone, but when its under a load it craps up?? I tested the voltage at the battery when trying to start. it goes from 12.5 to about 11.4, not turning over of course.... cleaned all the connections and everything, cables looked pretty good. what is next?? (hopefuly the engine isn't frozen!!) oh, and the starter has been having heatsoak problems in the past.!!

 

If your starter smoked on the tester and it won't start your car even when you bypass the solenoid, I think it's bad. Replace it. If it's under warranty at autozone and they think it's still good, tell them it's not strong enough to spin your engine over and you want a new one. I've had lots of parts go bad at these places and test good, but I still demanded a new one and it fixed my problem.

Better get a heat shield or something this time.

 

First of all if you have to get a new starter get an OE. My buddy across the street has had 3 Pep's units in 6 months. And they were ALL bad. To test the solenoid and starter hook jumper cables positive to "BAT" terminal, negative to starter motor shell(make sure it's a good ground). Attach a 12 guage wire to the positive "BAT" connection and the touch the wire to the "S" terminal. The solenoid should energize and the starter should free run. The solenoid also engages the drive pinion to the flywheel gear by means of a plunger. They are not too bad to fix yourself "T". A lot of times simply disassembling them and cleaning all the crap out and relubing will fix them. If the brushes are gone you can buy a whole kit to do an overhaul from most larger parts dealers. Watch out for the chain kits, many are of poor quality. Unfortunately a free run test is not the end all. On a cold crank that baby has 180-220 amps going through it. LOL