6 replies to this topic

[vermillion850]

hi all
i have owned betsy for nearly a year now and gone through 4 starter solenoids ! i have tried new ones ,second hand one , hitting them with hammers !
what actually are they and is it just a switch inside ?
could anything else be causing the failiures ??? as surely i cant have that much bad luck !....
anyone shed any light please? much appreciated

[vermillion850]

any ideas anyone ?

[Dan]

In what way are they failing?

[vermillion850]

car wont start and solenoid just clicks !

[Dan]

Well that usually means a bad battery earth. Have you tested the rest of the circuit or just immediately replaced the solenoid every time? Is the solenoid casing earthing properly?

[tiger99]

The coil of the solenoid, which would have been prime suspect, is not failing, as it clicks. The only other thing to fail is the contacts. I suggest taking one apart (probably needs a lot of brute force) to see if the contacts have been badly burned.

Dan made a good point. A simple test for that is to put the headlights on, and try to start. If, when the solenoid clicks, the lights go out, it is definitely the battery or its terminals. If they just dim slightly, which you may not notice, the battery and its terminals are ok, but the engine earth may not be. If they dim a really long way but don't go out, the starter may be jammed.

In any case, if your battery terminals are the pot type, change them for the clamp type, as the pots always fail sooner or later, and are the cause of much misery.

[dklawson]

As a footnote to the above, the early "round" solenoids with the push-button on them are currently "trash" and not worth buying. Their quality is so low that unless original appearance is critical to you, you should switch to the later "square-ish" solenoids.