foster461 Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 Headed out to meet up with some friends the other day. Did about 30 miles at highway speed then stopped to get gas. TR6 would not start. The starter relay clicks (1974 TR6) , I have 12v going to the solenoid but the starter motor does not operate. The car sits for about 20 mins while I wait for my buddy to arrive, problem is still there. Battery voltage is 12.7 v and the voltage does not drop when I turn the key to the start position. Buddy says lets try jump starting it and I say no, its not the battery but I humor him and connect up my jump starter battery. Starter motor turns over and the engine starts. We do the planned tour and I start the engine a few times with no issues. We stop for a late lunch, car sits for about an hour. Symptoms are back. Starter relay clicks, no action at the motor. I get a push and bump start the engine and drive home. All indications are that the solendoid has an intermittent fault. I checked the connections on the solendoid, they all look good. I am still trying to catch it at a point where it will fail and I am home with the right tools to investigate. I dont recall these solenoids having a history of going flaky like this and I cant explain why adding the extra jump start battery kicked it into life. High resistance somewhere ? Stan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 Check all your battery cables and earths first before going any further. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 Hi Stan, do as Stuart says. My 4A did the same thing the other day. I found the + terminal clamp very slightly loose. Nipped up and works as it should do. If your terminals are tight then remove and clean them Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 i used to carry a stick to thump the solenoid whenever that happened. Until I removed it to clean up the terminals of hidden corrosion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
foster461 Posted September 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 I was pretty sure I had found the culprit on Sunday. One of the cable clamp bolts for the +ve cable was loose and the cable was very corroded. I cleaned up the cable, cleaned up the clamp, re-assembled with a little dielectric grease and tightened both clamp bolts. Car started with no issues, took it around the block for a 10 minute drive. Back in the driveway I shut off the engine and tried to restart it. Click. As rancid as that cable was, it was apparently not the cause of this problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cubehopper Posted September 25, 2018 Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 Hi Stan, I had the very same problem last year , starter brushes were nearly new, and all connections clean and tight, found that high resistance across the terminals inside the solenoid was the problem. Managed to unsolder the solenoid to take the guts out of it and there was a lot of corrosion on the terminals. Once these were cleaned and the solenoid put back together I`ve had no problems since. Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
foster461 Posted September 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2018 41 minutes ago, cubehopper said: Hi Stan, I had the very same problem last year , starter brushes were nearly new, and all connections clean and tight, found that high resistance across the terminals inside the solenoid was the problem. Managed to unsolder the solenoid to take the guts out of it and there was a lot of corrosion on the terminals. Once these were cleaned and the solenoid put back together I`ve had no problems since. Dave Good suggestion Dave. I just checked a spare starter and its solenoid is measuring .5 Ohm between the solenoid terminal and ground. The one on the car is measuring .4 Ohm. I need to get it into a state where it wont start and check it again. Stan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted September 26, 2018 Report Share Posted September 26, 2018 Solenoid corrosion is often down to the fact the block drain is right above it and someone over the years is bound to have let the water go down over it. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
foster461 Posted May 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2019 I was out with the gang yesterday and once again the TR6 would not spin the starter motor. We push started it a couple of times until we reached a scheduled stop and after some investigation I found the connector had come off the solenoid. This connector is very close indeed to the exhaust and about 10 years ago I replaced the brittle wire with some new wire in a heat resistant sleeve. I thought at the time the spade connector that I used seemed a bit feeble so I will replace the wire and fit a more robust connector. I dont think that terminal on the solenoid can be moved. Stan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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