Starter Relay????

[Hank Jourdin]

Hello Horst,  Sounds like you found the problem, Just think of the neutral/park switch like a light switch in your house. There is a detent inside the transmission that pushes in on a little ball on the end of that switch with the 3 wires that completes the circut when you have the shift lever in park or neutral, so thats the only places you can start the motor. It is a safty switch so the motor will not start while the shift lever is in foward or reverse gear. Yes the contacts in the plug should fit snug and make good contact. As long as the plug contact prongs are not broken off you can bend them in to make a tighter fit for better contact. Hank Out!

[Horst]

Jerry, so  you're talking  about needle nose pliers I'm guessing. I thought about that too when I was looking at it.
I think I'll give that a whirl tomorrow. Now to be sure - I'm going to "resize" the three female parts of the connector - just a little, so that the three prongs that are in the tranny case will fit more snug.

I don't feel good about "bending" the prongs Hank - I'm afraid with my luck I'd break one!

[JerryT]

Yes, or you could use a dental pick. I have used channel lock pliers on some items and applied a mild crush on the whole connector to resize the female end. Remember you can always ground that terminal and just remember not to attempt starting the engine while it's running. A 440 is loud enough I would never think it wasn't running

JerryT 

[Horst]

OK - so in a "pinch", if my female connector totally cracked/broke or something, I could cut it off, strip the three wires back a bit, and ground them somewhere, and I could start the engine? That's a good tip to know.
But what would be the status of my back-up lights? Would they:
1) Stay on all the time
2) Not work
3) Work as usual

I guess I'm wondering, in this scenario, if I should only bother grounding the relay wire, and not the other two.

By the way, where do I send my check made out to "Jerry's RV Electrical".................

[JerryT]

I think the lights would stay on when ever the key is in the run position but I don't know if the starter relay would get the ground it needs to energize as the voltage would have to pass thru the filaments in the back up lights i.e. this now becomes a resistance path to ground. I will have try this on the bench sometime.
You need to ground the terminal on the relay that leads to the NSSS not the wires at the NSSS. I take a short length of wire and crimp a 1/4 female spade connector to one end and a fork to the other end. I push on the fork on the relay terminal and then loosen the relay bolt and slide the fork under it and tighten it. The control circuit is now grounded so any time you apply 12v (key to crank) it will energize the relay.

JerryT

[Horst]

Got it! Now I also understand what you mentioned previously about the old Mopar stick trucks and the ground being on the base of the relay mount. Because when I went to pick up my relay at the parts store, the person gave it to me, I take it out to look at it, and there was only one  post on it. I said mine needs two. They went back and looked at the manual in their computer, and sure enough, someone put the wrong relay in that box -  the parts guy says that the one post model is for older Dodge vehicles.

[Horst]

Well - time to revive this old thread - as here I am a year later with starter trouble.....AGAIN!
This time I try to start and all I get with rapid "grinding" noise.....gears not quite engaging I'm guessing??
I tapped the starter several times with a hammer.....no good.....still get just grinding noise.
Anyone have any other tips?
I'm thinking starter is "toast", but would like to be sure before I go buy a new one.
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Oh Boy - the electrical dunce strikes again!!
So I bought and installed a new starter  - but the same problem persisted.
Called a mechanic friend of mine and he said are you sure about your battery?
I said of course I'm sure, my charger says it's fully charged, and the lights work, etc.
My friend says, are you sure about your charger?
DOH!!!!!!
Sure as heck, my charger went poopy on me as far as battery condition read-out. So I kept charging it eventhough it said almost 100% charged, and suddenly (after 5+ minutues) it dropped to the 60% range, like the needle was stuck or something. After 20 minutes, I tested the starter - engine turns over fine - stopped that and I'm now fully charging the battery.
So that was a $50 mis-diagnosis - but my starter was 13 years old anyway - so probably a good idea to swap it out.
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Second update
Well having re-wired/cleaned everything connected to the starter and relay, etc. - wow!! - the new starter, with new battery and clean wiring turns over the Clipper much faster, and it starts much quicker.
Guess my entire "starting system" has been tired for quite a while - I just never noticed