[V8] V8 Starter Question

[Kneale Brownson]

If I remember starter power arrangements correctly, you have power to a
motor contact inside the solenoid housing all the time that only gets
engaged when the solenoid advances the starter motor gear into the flywheel
teeth.  

At 10:45 PM 6/28/2005 -0400, Stafford, Kenneth A. wrote:
>Been doing some much needed long term maintenance on my V8 (attack front end
>engine idle rattle, replace leaking bomb, replace front strut bearing, fix
>leaking dizzies, etc).  Discovered a very loose T-belt that appeared to be
>causing the diesel-racket sound at hot idle.  Turns out the tensioner pivot
>bearing was seized and the tension block pretty much worn out.  Did a bunch
>of other stuff including changing the starter (the planetary plastic bits
>were broken up inside).  Long story short, after starting the car up well for
>a half dozen times (nice--no rattling or leaking any more!)--the starter then
>refused to turn the engine over--there was some clicking coming from the
>solenoid.  I suspect that I may have a poor signal path to the starter.  But
>here is the rub...looking at the PDF manual page 27-100-1, it seems as though
>there is an error.  The illustration has a #2 arrow identified as pointing to
>Term 50 which is actually Term 15 (unused from what I can tell).  Furthermore
>I am now thoroughly confused by how the system is even supposed to work.  The
>solenoid is actually wired in parallel with the motor armature.  And if I
>assume that the starter signal source (from the ignition switch ) is at +12
>V, then the instant the motor contacts are made in the solenoid, the voltage
>across the solenoid coil would effectively go to zero.  In fact, the
>trouble-shooting guide on page 27-100-1 says that when cranking you should
>see at least 8 V at Term 50 (one end of the solenoid coil) and at least 8 V
>at the armature side of the starter motor--the armature is tied to the other
>end of the solenoid coil--meaning that you could have 0 V across the
>solenoid!  How is that supposed to work?  I am tempted to cut the conductor
>from the solenoid coil to the armature terminal and instead run it to ground.
>What say you wizards?? 
> 
>TIA,
>Ken
>'91V8Q, 200+K  
> 
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