wiring the starter motor

[mistaboins]

i have a friend helpling me replace my starter on '84 suburban 6.2 and unfortunately he took the wires off the starter and didn't mark what went where, so we did what we could, but when you hook up the neg batt. cable, it cranks the engine without the ignition even being on. a wire is either loose or we are wired incorrectly. help!!!

[john8662]

Here is what I had to do recently. Disconnect all three smaller wires, two of the wires havet to connect to the supply wire on the starter, the other to the "S" terminal on the starter. Sounds like one of the hot wires is on the S terminal and the other two on the hot post on the starter. Sometimes you get lucky on color of wires, if so look for the purple (probably faded) wire, its the "S" wire, then the other two to the starter hot lug. If you're unlucky and they are all just completly alike, you'll have to do some testing. Hook up one of the smaller wires to the hot terminal and test for power at the jumper block on the firewall (closer to the brake booster and engine, not between brake booster and fender). If you get voltage, then you got one right, if not, its probably the start circuit from the ignition switch. Just do some testing till you get them figured out. There are usually two hot wires feeding the cab. Also, if you find one of the supply wires, you can always find the start circuit with a test light and a helper, as long as the cab gets power from the hot wire.

I probably made this confusing huh, hope some of it helps!

[mistaboins]

thanks for the reply, but it hasn't helped so far... we've tried every combonation for the wires, and read the schematic, but still when you hook up the ground to the batt. the engine tries to turn over. could it be the battery cable? help!!!

[john8662]

did you at least find that one of the small wires is switched by the ignition? Besides that the only thing I can think of is a bad solenoid, stuck on. You might consider taking the starter and having it tested at a local auto parts store.

[garysleeman]

I had a similar problem a long time ago with a 350 chevy (gas). The starter engaged with the key but it wouldn't disengage, had to take the cable off the battery. The problem was I assembled the starter without a spacer on the end of the drive and the first time it was engaged it stuck. That was the last time I rebuilt a starter motor (almost 30 years ago).