Another starter question - help

[JBerno]

Sorry guys, here is my long winded question?

I put a new starter on the Blazer, it had a little grinding going on once i tested it out but otherwise started like a champ numerous times.
I just crawled under it to put the shims in, that went well but when I went to start it the wheels fell off. I barely bumped the key enough for the starter to engage and lost all power to everything, I crawled underneath and the starter was lined up with the flywheel, I loosened the bolts on the starter to disengage it and tried starting it again, nothing, jumped it with my truck and still nothing.
I crawled under it again and took the shims out and it started right up (still hooked up to my truck as the battery is now dead), can I assume that I do not have a good ground to the starter? Would the shims make me loose my ground?

In the post by ekajkrats his solenoid only has one small wire going to it, mine has two small wires plus the large wire from the battery, is this correct?
Would any of this kill my battery?
There is an extra wire hanging down by my starter? Any ideas what this should go to? I will post a picture of it in a second.

Thanks in advance

 

[JBerno]

Here is a pic of the battery

 

[ryoken]

Sorry guys, here is my long winded question?

I put a new starter on the Blazer, it had a little grinding going on once i tested it out but otherwise started like a champ numerous times.
I just crawled under it to put the shims in, that went well but when I went to start it the wheels fell off. I barely bumped the key enough for the starter to engage and lost all power to everything, I crawled underneath and the starter was lined up with the flywheel, I loosened the bolts on the starter to disengage it and tried starting it again, nothing, jumped it with my truck and still nothing.
I crawled under it again and took the shims out and it started right up (still hooked up to my truck as the battery is now dead), can I assume that I do not have a good ground to the starter? Would the shims make me loose my ground?

In the post by ekajkrats his solenoid only has one small wire going to it, mine has two small wires plus the large wire from the battery, is this correct?
Would any of this kill my battery?
There is an extra wire hanging down by my starter? Any ideas what this should go to? I will post a picture of it in a second.

Thanks in advance

generally, shims wont make you lose grd, the bolts themselves would take care of that... I haven't had to shim a chevy starter in decades, and i install dozens a yr in the boats.. they are usually bolt and go...

usually starters will have 2 wires to the main lug, the bat cable, and a 10 gauge with a fusable link that feeds the fuse block... than you'll have a small 14 gauge trigger wire to the "S" terminal... the other small post is a 12v supply for older vehicles that ran ballast resistors or systems, it supplies a full 12v to the coil for starting... rarely used, as ballast resistor wires, etc where done away with in the early 70's...

trace the extra wire and see where it originates...

 

[JBerno]

Cool, thanks Ryoken!!

I have HEI so I assume that would allow me to eliminate the coil wire?

I will get back under there tomorrow and follow the extra wire, I may have a few more questions as we go.

 

[ryoken]

yeah, after i posted that i realized you had a 72, which when original, probably had a ballast system.. but yeah, hei, your not gonna use that...

ask away....

 

[JBerno]

What does the 14ga wire go to?

 

[JBerno]

Did some reading, the "S" wire goes to the ignition, the battery goes to the big lug as well as the fusible link to the fuse box.

So right now I am assuming that I do not have a wire going from the starter to the fuse box......since stuff still works would I be safe assuming the PO is feeding the fuse box from somewhere else?

 

[ryoken]

yup, like the other day, your probably getting fed from the bat or the alt than....

and once again I'll mention that you should really ditch those crappy bat lugs that are on the battery, they are a bandaid part...

 

[JBerno]

So following along here, there should not be anything coming off the battery other than the main ground to the block and the lead to the starter......my goal is to trace the yellow wire from the battery and see where it goes, if it goes to the fuse box that is a no-no. I need to trace the "spare wire" that is hanging down by the starter, if this goes to the fuse box I need to replace the fusible link and feed the fuse box from that. Everything to the fuse box needs to run from the starter thru the fusible link, am I on track so far?

What gauge wire does this need to be? This will power everything correct, lights, etc?

The extra ground leads can be removed and whatever they go to can be grounded to the body/frame, correct?

The other big lead off my positive post goes thru a big fuse and powers my amp, what would you suggests on this if it is not hooked to the battery?

 

[ryoken]

So following along here, there should not be anything coming off the battery other than the main ground to the block and the lead to the starter......my goal is to trace the yellow wire from the battery and see where it goes, if it goes to the fuse box that is a no-no. I need to trace the "spare wire" that is hanging down by the starter, if this goes to the fuse box I need to replace the fusible link and feed the fuse box from that. Everything to the fuse box needs to run from the starter thru the fusible link, am I on track so far?

What gauge wire does this need to be? This will power everything correct, lights, etc?

The extra ground leads can be removed and whatever they go to can be grounded to the body/frame, correct?

The other big lead off my positive post goes thru a big fuse and powers my amp, what would you suggests on this if it is not hooked to the battery?

well, your feed to the fuse box should have the fusable link, or a breaker if your feeling fancy, but yes, originally it was at the starter, but it can be relocated...

that wire is generally a 10 gauge.. it will usually feed a power post/junction block on the firewal, than from there, the fusebox... not certain what the first gens did for that...


no, do not remove grds... you should probably have off the bat a lag to the eng, and a 10 gauge to the rad support..


you can have a couple conections at the battery.. it isn't mandatory that it only have 1 to the pos.. it is preferred, but a couple isn't a huge ordeal other than ease of lug removal, etc... multiple connections have a tendency to corrode more...

getting multiple connections off the pos post can be as simple as put a power post near the battery on your main cable, than feeding it with a single short wire to the bat..

you can also do a buss bar or fuse/breaker panel too..

 

[JBerno]

Perfect, thanks for the info. I will let you know how,this turns out.

 

[Greg72]

On a slightly tangential topic....

Changing a starter by yourself in a lifted truck can be a real pain. You can't really get to the wires to disconnect them before pulling the starter, and if you try to do it once the starter is out it gets pretty awkward and heavy trying to hold the starter overhead and work on the wires.

I've always thought it would be a nice upgrade to build a small 12" wiring harness with a heavy-duty weather pack-style plug for the starter. When you needed to pull the starter, you just unplug the harness and unbolt the starter. Then, it's easy to swap over the harness to the new starter on a workbench or tailgate instead of struggling to deal with it underneath the truck.

Always seemed like a good idea to me as long as there was a connector with enough amperage rating to handle the load of the starter while cranking.


-G

 

[JBerno]

Update - I just could not get it to quite grinding with or without shims, so I take it off and take it back to Auto Zone and have them bench test it. That fricking thing was screaming like a banshee, the guys says "do you want me to exchange it?"..........
Put the new one on in about 15 minutes and just like new.

Get this, as the guy was exchanging it he says "I am going to just put it back in the box, maybe the next guy won't mind the noise that it makes"