I went to unflood my 86 NA, pulled the EGI fuses cranked the engine over w/ the gas to the floor. Replaced the fuses, went to crank the engine over and I get nothing. All I hear is the cylinoid(sp?) on the starter clicking. The engine will not crank. The battery is fully charged. My only idea would be that since it's extremely wet outside and I hit a couple puddles, that the connections on the starter way by wet/dirty? Any suggestoins as to what the problems may be? Anyway to troubleshoot the starter to make sure its in working order?

 

join the club! lol mine does that to me as well.. lol

 

Does it currently do that? Or is it just a random every once in awhile thing?

 

well clicking is usually due to a bad or weak battery, and yes the solenoid, can go bad but its not common. if it was shorting out anything you would be blowing the main fuse. also check connections to see if they are loose if so that would be the prob if thats not it get a 12v battery run it directly to the solenoid switch and see if it clicks.


BUT IMPORTANT NOTE just touch the lead that activates the solenoid do not touch either of the battery posts as you may accedentally make the starter turn the engine over. and then we have a problem. but just ground the starter and touch the lead on the solenoid that doesnt have big battery wires going to it. it should be a small 10-12 gauge wire leading to it touch that with the positive and if it clicks and stays engauged that means you have a good solenoid and faulty connection somewhere. but if it clicks wild like and you are sure that bost your leads are hooked up right then just get the solenoid replaced

did i loose you there?

 

I got what you meant, I'll have to try it sometime this week. Thanks Capn

 

Had this happen on a few cars I worked on. Try checking the positive cable clamps for corosion, the connection might be enough to click the plunger of the starter, but not good enough to bring full amps to the starter motor.
If youre pretty sure its the starter assembly, just before you get to the point of replacing it with a new one, whack it a few times around the cylinder with a soft face mallet. Not too hard to dent it, but just hard enough to jar the insides a bit. The idea is to jar any crud off of any internal contacts.
And if it doesnt work, you still have a core exchange for a new one.

 

theres no point in beating the starter, the contacts wont ge dirty because the contacts self clense themselve and it wont help if the starter is worn out anyway. its better to get a rebuild then a new one.