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Thread: Powermaster Starter
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11-30-2020 #1
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Powermaster Starter
Have a Powermaster starter on my car - went to start it this weekend - after the second attempt - took the key out - but starter was still making noise - but was not cranking the engine. High pitch spinnng sound. Had to yank the battery cable. The battery was weak - so put it on the charger - but after it was charged - reattached the batter cable - but starter was still making the high pitch spinning noise - started to smell also. Had to leave batter disconnected.
Any ideas the cause - is the starter shot? Only 2 years old - probably less than 100 starts.
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11-30-2020 #2
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Sounds like the solenoid on the starter is shot. You could replace it, but it's about as cheap and easy to just replace the whole thing.
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12-01-2020 #3
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As a safety measure in racing we hot wire the solenoid with a copper bar and use a ford fender-mount solenoid.
Something to think about with any new starter. Takes the opportunity for a dead short away from the headers.
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12-01-2020 #4
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Contact Powermaster - they warranty their parts
Troy
67GTO
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05-17-2021 #5
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Update - so went to connect battery - starter started to spin again. So Jacked car up - checked all the connections - cleaned the battery posts and charged the battery - now the starter does not spin - as soon as I connect the battery . Question - think I should still change the starter or was the battery so weak and battery posts were perhaps not clean that caused the starter to have this issue?
05-17-2021 #6
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I really doubt that cleaning the battery posts did anything except possibly allowing more current to flow but with the starter now not spinning this cleaning of the posts was not the issue.
Originally Posted by 68 SuperRam
When you say you jacked the car up and "checked the connections", which were these and how were they "checked" (visually, mechanically,electrically tested, ????).
I wonder if you had a connection between the battery cable and some other terminal on the starter such as the connection to the starter motor and/or to the solenoid. It could have been from an un-insulated terminal being rotated just right to create an unwanted path from one spot to another. While I have a stock starter on my car along with factory correct cables, the one for the starter has a tab off of it to where this tab goes into a notch on the solenoid to keep things from being in the wrong spot. A lot of aftermarket replacement cables do not have this tab and can create issues if one if not careful in the installation of it. I've seen people not always use the right sized ring terminals and if the center hole it too large or sloppy, the terminal can be shifted a bunch of different ways and if it's close to something else there may be an unwanted connection made when things get tightened down.
I have a feeling if the starter motor was just spinning and not kicking out the bendix to crank over the motor then I think you might have had a connection between the top battery stud and the lower motor stud output on the solenoid.
Jim
05-17-2021 #7
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The issue I had is that the starter would spin (but not engage the flywheel) as soon as I connected the main power wire to the battery - with no key in the ignition. This issue began when I tried to start the car - end of last year - battery was weak.
So now - I checked the all the leads connected to the starter - and confirmed that nothing was touching any other wires - and all connections were tight and secure. The only thing I noticed was the battery was very weak and the negative battery post did have some corrosion on it.
I cleaned the post and fully charged the battery, and made sure that the housing of the starter had ground to it - and now when I connect the battery again - I do not get the starter automatically spinning. I have yet to try to restart the car - but before I do - was wondering if this was "one off" issue - and perhaps not getting a good ground - or would it be best to replace the starter?
05-17-2021 #8
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Originally Posted by 68 SuperRam
While the below is not the starter you have it is like a lot of them from Powermaster.
Basically you would have a ground with it being bolted to the motor and then a large ground cable going from the block to the battery negative post.
You would then have a large power cable from the battery positive post down to the top stud on the starters solenoid.
You then have a smaller gauge wire that attaches to the solenoid to activate the solenoid and this terminal on the solenoid go to and through the neutral safety switch or clutch switch and then goes to a 12v output on the ignition key but will only have power coming out of it when the key is in the crank position.
What you also will see on the powermaster starter is a bottom large stud on the solenoid that a flexible covered wire attaches to and then goes through a grommet to inside the starter motors housing.
So, with all of that said, if you had no ground but only power being applied to the starter through the large cable attached to the top stud on the solenoid, the starter will not spin as it has no ground that could complete a circuit.
If one were to apply power to the lower large stud on the solenoid then the motor would spin but probably not kick out the starter gear as this is controlled by the solenoid getting activated. While I have never tried applying power to the top stud and the lower stud I have to think the starter motor will spin but the motor will not turn over due to the starter gear not being kicked out into the flywheel.
Normally when 12v gets applied to the starter solenoids activation terminal, a few things happen. One is you will hear a clunk as the solenoid is now pulling the bendix out to mesh the gear on the end of the starter motor to engage with the flywheel. At the same time this is happening an internal connection is made that now connects the top battery cable stud to the lower solenoid stud which then sends power to the starter motor and has it spinning.
Just to be clear, the starter above was one I grabbed off the internet and I may have the wrong terminal labeled for the solenoid activation. Most of the pictures of the GM starters do not show the solenoid connection points as well as this one for a Jeep.
Jim
05-18-2021 #9
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Very good wright up - thanks / spoke with Powermaster - said to ship it to them if it situation occurs again. Will try to start it tonight / tomorrow.
05-18-2021 #10
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I wonder if something might be floating around inside the solenoid to create an unwanted electrical path. Originally Posted by 68 SuperRam
I remember an old car amplifier I had that turned on for no reason and turned out to be a sliver or two of aluminum that was peeled off when the end caps were put on with self cutting threads. This sliver had fallen down onto the circuit board and made a connection between a trace on circuit board that had the main battery power input on it and made connection over to a spot on the circuit board that had the trace for the remote turn on circuit. The amp turned off after I turned it upside down. When taking it apart after this I then found some aluminum slivers and then blew it out with compressed air, reassembled it and it never messed up again after that.
You might have one of those one in a million issues.
Jim
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