Hi Guys,

my 86 TA LG4 let me down again this morning. After a couple hours of playing I've had to leave it and go to work - and get back to it tonight.

I'm thinking either the starter solenoid is flakey or the neutral safety switch. The car will start about once every 50 turns of the key - if I shift the auto shifter through the range and/or play with the solenoid wires. Otherwise the starter does nothing - no clicks, whirrs whatever - and the battery is 2 months old and fully charged.

I'm going to remove and bypass the neutral switch when I get home but was interested what the symptoms of a dud solenoid or starter are ???

ciao



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gruNT
near stock 86 LG4 WS6 T/A
Brisbane Australia
http://web.one.net.au/~grunt

 

Grunt,

The symptoms can be identical. Have you tried starting in NEUTRAL instead of PARK?

I once had a similar problem that wasn't the safety switch nor the solenoid. The ignition switch was not being actuated quite far enough to crank the engine. The linkage sector and rod had worn/relaxed just enough to prevent reliable starting. If I lowered the column tilt mechanism to the lowest position, it would start every time. I finally installed a new switch at the lower end of the column and adjusted the linkage, but I probably didn't even need the new switch after seeing the problem up close. Lowering the column changed the angle of the sector just enough to pull the switch rod a little farther. All better now.

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

One easy way to rule out/in the starter is to buy a remote start switch for about $8. You hook one end up to the positive incoming battery cable and the other end to the soleniod and jump it. If the car turns over continuously then it's somewhere in the ignition wiring and not at the soleniod.

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1984 WS6 Trans Am Hartop
Former L69 Car under restoration
1984 WS6 Trans Am T-top car
4-bolt main 350, headers, Holley 650, T-5 and 3.23's.
Daily driver and restoration

 

That sounds like a familiar starter death.

In my younger and even more foolish days, I learned how to rebuild starters. I even became able to replace any part at will, simply by setting it aside and picking up another of the same part as I rebuilt one. But eventually, every starter that I had for long enough (usually about 3 rebuilds) would reach a point where it would do exactly as you describe. Once they did that I was unable to fix any of them by replacing parts; not brushes, drive, solenoid, plunger, or any other part would make it work again. Later I met somebody that owned a rebuilding company. I asked him what made them do that. His reply was something like "If I told you that you'd never buy another starter again, would you?" and wouldn't say anything else. It has something to do with the field windings or the armature.

Time to get another starter.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

 

well, it was the solenoid or the starter. Put in a new starter (after checking the neutral safety switch) and then pulling the starter and testing it and the solenoid. Works fine.

What a bugger to get the new starter in though - not a lot of room in there to twist and turn


ciao



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gruNT
near stock 86 LG4 WS6 T/A
Brisbane Australia
http://web.one.net.au/~grunt