Strange solenoid/electrical/ground problems . . . again!
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:59 am
Greetings,
Some of you might remember my rambling adventures with the remote starter solenoid on my 1970 +2 this past June . . .
elan-f15/anyone-try-rebuild-lucas-remote-solenoid-t22978.html
I'm back again, with a collection of electrical symptoms which I'd like to think are all related to one simple-to-fix source problem, but I can't yet say!! The symptoms are these:
- with battery fully charged, and alternator working well,
- periodic dim ignition/charge light when switching on key
- click sound from solenoid and no starter turn-over (like the battery is too low)
- my old original solenoid's push button working erratically and now not at all
- cleaned all solenoid connections . . . no help
- when measuring voltage at the solenoid (battery side), sometimes it's way low (5 or 6 volts), then minutes later it measures at 13 volts
- for the life of me I can't get the power to pass across the battery-side terminal to the starter-side terminal on solenoid, no matter how hard I rub the screwdriver I'm using
- for good measure, I disassembled the ignition switch, cleaned terminals and successfully reassembled
- finally, with ignition switch in first position (after off), the "battery condition" gauge reads 13 volts; when I switch to second (ignition) position, the gauge reading drops steadily to below 11 volts (I think that's a low as it reads).
- when I do a power drain test at the battery, with ignition off, there is no parasitic drain. But with the ignition switch in second (ignition) position, I'm losing 6.5 amps!!
- I have electronic ignition installed (been there for years).
So . . . ack! Should electronic ignition be draining that much amperage with the ignition switch on??? And why can I not short the solenoid terminals and get the starter motor spinning? When I remove and test the solenoid, the push button closes the connection between batt and starter terminals, according to my DMM, but who knows whether it can pass high current. Are the bolt terminals on the top of the solenoid corroded internally?
Anyway, you get my drift . . . I'll not bore you with any more details at this time. I have a power and/or connection and/or ground problem. Any suggestions on where to look GRATEFULLY received! Thanks so much!
Randy
Some of you might remember my rambling adventures with the remote starter solenoid on my 1970 +2 this past June . . .
elan-f15/anyone-try-rebuild-lucas-remote-solenoid-t22978.html
I'm back again, with a collection of electrical symptoms which I'd like to think are all related to one simple-to-fix source problem, but I can't yet say!! The symptoms are these:
- with battery fully charged, and alternator working well,
- periodic dim ignition/charge light when switching on key
- click sound from solenoid and no starter turn-over (like the battery is too low)
- my old original solenoid's push button working erratically and now not at all
- cleaned all solenoid connections . . . no help
- when measuring voltage at the solenoid (battery side), sometimes it's way low (5 or 6 volts), then minutes later it measures at 13 volts
- for the life of me I can't get the power to pass across the battery-side terminal to the starter-side terminal on solenoid, no matter how hard I rub the screwdriver I'm using
- for good measure, I disassembled the ignition switch, cleaned terminals and successfully reassembled
- finally, with ignition switch in first position (after off), the "battery condition" gauge reads 13 volts; when I switch to second (ignition) position, the gauge reading drops steadily to below 11 volts (I think that's a low as it reads).
- when I do a power drain test at the battery, with ignition off, there is no parasitic drain. But with the ignition switch in second (ignition) position, I'm losing 6.5 amps!!
- I have electronic ignition installed (been there for years).
So . . . ack! Should electronic ignition be draining that much amperage with the ignition switch on??? And why can I not short the solenoid terminals and get the starter motor spinning? When I remove and test the solenoid, the push button closes the connection between batt and starter terminals, according to my DMM, but who knows whether it can pass high current. Are the bolt terminals on the top of the solenoid corroded internally?
Anyway, you get my drift . . . I'll not bore you with any more details at this time. I have a power and/or connection and/or ground problem. Any suggestions on where to look GRATEFULLY received! Thanks so much!
Randy