do you think the problem is the starter or the solenoid?

[big dan]

Ive ran into a problem with my remote solenoid. did the swap about an hour ago and my truck wont start now.

My truck was originally wired with the positive cable to the starter plus one wire from the ignition switch and then has a hot wire from the battery directly to the cab. I know that some of the starters had the ignition wire running to the starter and then the other wire ran from the solenoid to the cab but my starter only had poles for the hot wire and the ignition wire.

The solenoid I picked up had the two battery cable poles plus two smaller poles. I wired the large battery cable to one side and another 4 gauge wire running to the starter and looped the solenoid on the starter like lectric80 said. then ran the ignition wire to one of the small poles and left the other alone.

I have power running to the solenoid from the battery cable and I have power to the ignition wire when the key is in the start position but am not getting power to the wire running to the starter. I have tired it with the ignition wires on both poles and have even swapped sides with the large wires in case I had the backwards. I can touch the two large cables together (the one from my battery and the one going to the starter) and the starter spins like it should and will start the motor.

am I doing something wrong with my wiring or did I get a bad solenoid? I plan to try rewiring it if anyone has any suggestions otherwise I will warranty the solenoid for a new tomorrow at work. thanks and sorry again for the hijack.

 

[lectric80]

If you have power from the ignition wire to the solenoid, and you can jumper the two large power wires and get the starter to turn, it is most likely a bad solenoid. Although I don't know what the extra pole is for on that setup.

 

[kgblazerfive]

You need to have power full time to the wire that goes to your ing. switch. To trip the sol. you should be able to get power from the batt and put it to the little post on the sol. and it should click if its not then the sol. is bad.

 

[big dan]

yup solenoid was bad. went to work early and found one with the two large poles and only one small one. wired it all up and my truck has never started so smoothly. kinda embarrasing to say I used a f*rd part to improve my chevy but I definately recommend it to anyone running headers.

 

[mattman4x4]

I was having a similar problem, and used a header heat shield to fix the problem. Heat from the headers freezes the solenoid, and it would not start.
just my $0.2

 

[dontoe]

I put together an easy to follow "How-to" with pics on the remote solenoid install.

Here!