Starter solenoid saga

["Paul Irvine" <pi@domain.elided>]

Okay, now that I have this all sussed out I'll relay (no pun intended) the
story to all my fellow Digesters. But I'll have to start from the beginning.

Project Alfa: Over a four and a half year period there's hardly a nut that
hasn't been turned, engine and tranny installed, wiring hooked up, fuel pump
running and no leaks detected. So I take her off the jackstands for the
first time in over four years and what do I do? Stupid mistake number one. I
grab the starter off the shelf, blow the dust off it and bolt it on. Then I
go out and get the battery from my boat, which has been sitting there for
about 9 months, and hook it up. I turn the key and all I get is whrrr.whrrr.
wh..rrr..r

Of course I immediately fear the worst - the bearings are too tight or I did
something wrong assembling the engine. Okay, calm down - maybe it's the
starter. So I pull the starter and take it apart and it's an ugly ugly mess.
The commutator is caked with black gunk and one of the brushes is  lying in
the case on it's side with a broken pigtail. So I clean it all up and get
new brushes down at NAPA and put it all together again and put it back on
the car (without bench testing it first) and of course it doesn't work, it
doesn't do anything now, not even the whrrr.whrrr. wh..rrr..r

Back off the car, onto the bench for a test - nothing. So I bypass the
solenoid and it runs. Turns out the solenoid was bound up for some reason -
I guess some ham fisted knuckle dragger had put it together last time it was
apart - hey wait a minute, that was me!

Anyway, back on the car again, turn the key and all I get is - you guessed
it - whrrr.whrrr. wh..rrr..r  Okay, let's not freak out. I go get the
battery out of the truck, hook it up and she cranks over like a sweet..okay,
let's not go there. I turn off the key and she just keeps on crankin' I have
to disconnect the battery to get it to stop.

Ughhh, where's my beer?

So this is where the starter solenoid story really begins. I've heard of
this problem before - heck I had this problem with the old Alfetta and
everyone said it was cause of the ignition switch and all the current that
had to go through it to power the starter solenoid and the cold start
solenoid on the Spica at the same time. So I started doin' some investigatin
' I "ohmed" out the starter solenoid and my meter read 0.4 ohms. I used Ohm'
s Law I=E/R and came up with 30 amps. Sheee-Eye-t! 30 friggin amps! No
wonder that darn switch is fryed!

The next day I began to wonder. You know, people weld up those fancy copper
statues in the art shops in Prescott AZ with probably less than 30 amps.
Something's got to be wrong with my calculatin' here. So off with the
starter again. I took the whole darn thing apart and found out that same ham
fisted knuckle dragger didn't get the solenoid engage fork seated in the cup
right so I put it all together again (the right way this time) and even had
the foresight to bench test the darn thing before I put it back on the car.

I turned the key and - sweet mother of. It worked. I turn the key off and it
stopped. I turn the key on and - It really does work!

Only - I smell gas now and what's that puddle on the floor? Back up on the
jackstands, rip off  that cushy foam around the hard fuel lines, turn on the
ignition and there it is - a pinhole leak peeing out all over the place.
Yea, that's right, the hard fuel lines. Probably the only other thing on the
car that I didn't replace or rebuild.

Is there a message in this story?

Paul Irvine - Antioch CA
Project Alfa - http://home.pcmagic.net/pi
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