CDaniel525

I had one of these bout a year ago, but the solenoid was acting up and would only start once in a while.... so I sent it back to Summit and they sent me a new one right away.... But I didnt get a chance to put it back on till just yesterday... So I hooked it up, and jumped in the car to start it... Im not sure if this matters or not, but the clutch linkage is disconnected..... so the pedal is down on the floor. Nothing happened when i turned the key... so I figured the clutch safety switch is in the transmission... So I finished up and was going to wait to put the linkage all back together to try it again.
So I went and started working on my daily beater when all of hte sudden I hear the car trying to start.... I rush up to it and its just continually just turning over..... (Good thing the car was in nuetral!! and the ignition was disconnected!!!).... So I pulled off the battery cable...
So now I want to know why the hell this is doing this.... so I threw the cable back on and it didnt do it. I turned the key to the start position and it turned over again, but when i let off to the run position it just kept turning over... had to pull the cable again.

One last thing I tried was pulling off 2 small wires, one of which trigger that start to turn over. Switch the key on, and touched the one wire to the terminal and nothing happened.... then I ttook the wire, which I believe is from original wiring to signal to turn over and hit the post with it... right away the starter turns over and when I take the wire off. it still continues.... so even with just the battery wire going to the start (there are 2 other wire on the large post as well, but they were on the old starter as well) it continues to turn over...

Im sorry for the long post about this, but Im totally lost... cant figure out if its a wire thats has voltage all the time and shouldnt, but even when I pulled that wire off it continued to turn over. OR, if its something with the new starter, like the solenoid is getting stuck and keeps turning over. I honestly think if I were to throw the old starter back on, everything would work good. But is it something with my wiring or with the new starter....
Any ideas or suggestions is appreciated as always!!
Chris

zwede

Not sure I read your post correctly, but I get the impression the starter turns over with BOTH the small wires diconnected and only the heavy gauge battery cable connected? If so the solenoid is sticking, OR the starter is shimmed wrong and the bendix gear won't pull back from the ring gear.

CDaniel525

zwede.... thanks for the reply. On the new start, there are only two terminal posts. A large one for the battery cable and small for the ignition wire. On the larger terminal there are 3 wires...One from the battery and then 2 other smaller guage wires for the MSD box and somehting else I believe... On the ignition terminal is the ignition wire and an additional wire ( I believe for momentary power to elec fuel pump. I know on the old starter there was 3 terminals but I didnt reuse that one wire and didnt even hook it back up when I put the old starter on months ago... and it still worked..
Sorry for the confusions.... but yes...with the ignition wires disconnected, it will keep turning over. But what the heck is causing the solenoid to engage on its own, when im nowhere near the car??

If it is something with the shims... can you explain what you have to do to shim it properly. When I had the first Powermaster on there, I had no shims and it worked fine except a few times that the solenoid would act up.
Thanks again!
Chris

CDaniel525

ttt.... any other ideas?

pws69

Any chance someone put a remote solenoid on (to deal with a heat soak problem) that you are not aware of? That would certainly explain....

CDaniel525

thx for the reply pws69, but definitely no seperate solenoid.
going to put the old on one tomorrow and see what gives.

zwede

On my way out and only have a minute, but to shim correctly you move the bendix gear to the ring gear (most starters have a slot or hole in the housing you insert a screwdriver and then you can push the bendix out). You then check the play/distance between the bendix gear teeth and the ring gear. A good tool to measure with is a paper clip. The clip should fit snugly between the top of one tooth of the bendix and valley between two teeth on the ringgear.

Hope this makes sense.

CDaniel525

Thanks for the reply zwede....

Well the stupidity factor finally gave way.....while working under the car, I noticed on the 2 posts on the starter that they are very close....upon close inspection, the battery cable was hitting the ignition stud, drawing voltage to the solenoid and causing it to turn over.... DOOHHHHHHH!
They should have spaced the stud farther apart... ya... anyhting to take the blame off of me...haha
Thanks for all the help though!
Chris