Whats wrong with this picture?

[Wishno87]

Please tell me cuz im stumped!



This is in an 86 eta

[Slick92GS-R]

shouldn't there be another small wire connected ?

[Wishno87]

Ya thats what it looks like but what wire? Thats all my car has.

[Slick92GS-R]

well.. yours is an '86 huh?.. does the starter not work when the you bump the key?

[White325is]

small black with green line.
Does it start?

[ZombiE30]

I wanted to say the same thing, but I think on the early etas there is no 4th wire, though your starter solenoid looks like it has a little nut at the top for a 4th connection.
What kind of clicking is it? A single click, or buzzing? Does it actually crank?

Perhaps an intermittent contact, is what I'm thinking.

[Wh33lhop]

My M20 only had 2 wires too. '87 i.

[Wishno87]

well.. yours is an '86 huh?.. does the starter not work when the you bump the key?

It works. The starter may have been out of an 85. The one that was in it previously did the same though.

small black with green line.
Does it start?

Sometimes i can get it to start if it turns over enough times before it quits again.

I wanted to say the same thing, but I think on the early etas there is no 4th wire, though your starter solenoid looks like it has a little nut at the top for a 4th connection.
What kind of clicking is it? A single click, or buzzing? Does it actually crank?

Perhaps an intermittent contact, is what I'm thinking.

It seems to engage the flywheel a couple of rotations then it just seems like the starter spins freely without touching the flywheel. Its sort of like a grinding sometimes. The gear on the starter wont maintain contact with the flywheel.

[Wishno87]

This original started after i did a motor swap from an 85 eta. I used the original harness just changed over the block.

[ZombiE30]

Sounds like a mechanical issue then.

It's either
A) not properly mounted
B) something is broken internally (flywheel teeth, pinion gear, solenoid lever etc)

I'd pull the starter and bench test it, and see if you can recreate the same circumstances. Then actually disassemble the starter if necessary.

[Wishno87]

I have a feeling its electrical though. This is the second starter I have had in this car with the same outcome. Could there be some sort of spacer somewhere that i dident install? What is the purpose of that third wire? It seems that if i unplug it the starter just spins and doesent even touch the flywheel.

[ZombiE30]

Wait, the starter spins if you unplug the 3rd wire? The little one?

That's not supposed to happen....

The 3rd wire is the control circuit that closes the solenoid that allows battery voltage to reach the starter motor. This action also engages a lever which sends the solenoid into contact with the flywheel.

No 3rd wire should equal no starter.

It's possible you need a spacer, though I haven't seen an e30 with one yet, and only you'd know if you took one off before.

[Wishno87]

Ya your right it must have been something else i heard. Now it doesent do anything weather its plugged in or not :( How would i go about bench testing it? What other than a battery do i need to get it to do what i want?

[ZombiE30]

Pull the starter and put it in a vise. Connect battery positive to the large terminal on the solenoid, and battery negative to the starter housing.
Then, take a small jumper wire and connect that to battery positive.
Touch it to the small connector on the solenoid: note what happens (you should see the pinion gear pop out into the little starter 'window' and spin like hell)

However, i am troubled by the fact that you got two different starters to both do the same thing in the car, because that does indicate a car electrical problem.

[Mike]

dual mass/single mass flywheel? dual mass/single mass starter?