Expert: Brad Sears - 11/6/2007

Question
I have a 63 Austin Healey Sprite that is having starting problems. We had to replace the starte solenoid about 3 months ago and it seems like the same part is going out again. When we tried to start it this weekend the starter cranked a few time when the car started to sputter it died. When we tried to pull the starter switch again the starter no longer tried to crank. The last time this happend the starter motor was very strong so we replaced the starter solenoid and it fixed it. Do you have any ideas on what might make the starter solenoid go bad or if there is somewhere else that we should start looking to trace down this problem. The lights and fuel guage work when the key is turned on and the battery has a full charge. It just seems like there is no connection to the starter any longer.

Answer
Well it is time to break out the old voltmeter and start chasing down the wiring, starting at the battery. Check each connection while trying to engage the starter. Remember the starter take a lot of current (flow of electricity) and the lights and gages draw very little and will work while the starter won't. One leg of the voltmeter to ground and the other to the connection. That means that the first test will be the battery post, the second the cable clamp, the third at the end of the battery cable to solenoid etc. Do the same on the ground side except when you get to the bad connection the volt meter will go up instead of down. Good luck.
Brad