No Voltage to Starter

TWO SOLENOIDS bad? I hope you have it licked.

NSS would definitely explain no voltage.

The solenoid and the starter need to show a ground as well

Sorry I was slow with the diagram. Looking at the picture it appears the solenoid is continuously switching on a direct path from battery to engine ground. And that was shorting out my brain. I'm thinking/hoping that big fat black cable coming off the larger bottom post is "Red"

We better hope this wiring gets cleaned up before Pete B. sees it

Here is the diagram:

Mike,
You're really confusing me. Your terminology seems to be changing every post as it relates to each terminal on the solenoid. You're talking a smaller wires on the positive side of the solenoid and I have no idea what you're talking about. Then I can't tell what is on the smaller wires on the "S" and "I" terminals.

How about this...Tell us exactly what is on the "S" terminal and where that wire(s) is going.

Then what is on the "I" terminal and where does that wire(s) go.

Then you should have a heavy wire on the top big post (referenced by the pics you posted). What are the wires on that post and where are they going?

Then the same thing with the bottom big post. What's on it and where does it go to.

Once we have that and are all on the same page, hopefully we can figure out what's going on.

let me re-state that a little bit... the 2 smaller wires on the positive side of the solenoid, 1 goes to the voltage regulator, and the other ties in a wire going to the ballast/resistor and what looks like one going to the dash.

OK, the 12V is coming from the smaller red wires on battery post. With the key in the on position, I took the smaller red wires off and left the positive from the battery and got no voltage to the S post. Took the battery cable off and put the smaller red wires back on ... one goes to what looks like a resistor or ballast on/near the voltage regulator, and one seem to go to the dash. The one going to the dash is what is producing the 12v on the S post.

So I put the original solenoid back in and everything is OK with the S post.... I get 12V only when the key is in the start position....

But still no volts to the starter yet

Did not have much time last night to work on it. So, I tried using jumper cables from the negative battery terminal to the block. Same (nothing to starter) ..., tried to the solenoid bracket (same), put ground jumper from battery to switch, still no volts to starter.

When I took off the previous solenoid's wire to the starter, I was able to use jumper cables attached to the battery, negative to the intake manifold ground, and positive to the starter cable and it kicked the starter. So, that tells me the cable from the solenoid to starter is good.

I picked up another solenoid but I am thinking it may be the wrong one, because after I installed it, there was 12V to the S post when I turned the key to the on position. As I understand it, there should not be 12V to that post until you put the key in the start position.

Us hacks would grab the jumper cables from outta Mommas pick-up and jump battery ground to block and try that, then battery ground to solenoid frame. That kinda stuff is quick, easy, tells us plenty and lets us stay under our nice shady tree.

I have on theory on this, it comes up from time to time. Actually three theories


Theory 1.)It has to do with the type of solenoid you're using... I think. Where are you buying the solenoids?

The regular PCM type, is self grounding. So, the body of the solenoid should ground itself to the engine block. You have two Big posts, one going to the Battery, and one for the starter. Heavy Red wire should be on each of the big posts. One little post should have the feed coming from the neutral safety switch. And, on a PCM engine, you have one little post that goes unused. The little post would give the coil full, un-ballested, voltage to the coil during the startup, and during startup only. Indmar etc. uses this sometimes but PCM generally didn't to my understanding.

In this scenario, you have inadvertently swapped in a non-self ground style solenoid, for one that needs a ground wire going to the other little post.

Theory 2.) Someone swapped out do a more modern starter but didn't wire it correctly. With the modern one, the starter actually needs a constant (heavy gauge) hot going to the starter. And, the other big post really just switches it on, rather than supplying the starting juice.

3.) You have a bad cable or a bad connection going from your second big post to your starter.

We really need pics of your solenoid and starter to give better advice.