Proper way to jump start the starter

[rbbrox]

I have a 73 85hp I'm troubleshooting. Has no spark on 3 out of 4 cylinders, has new powerpak and coils check out good. I want to unplug the harness and jump the starter without starting a fire with massive sparks, to check the key switch and harness as potential problem.
Thanks

 

[mikesea]

Re: Proper way to jump start the starter

assuming you dont have any testing equipt.,and to protect the threads on the starter anbd soloniod,remove the heavy starter wire from the solonoid,and use the end of it to touch your jumper cable to.You will get some sparks ,but if you touch it with a good strong contact,the sparking will minimize,you say the powerpacks andcoils test good,have you swapped the coil from the no spark cyl.with one that you know works,if your not getting spark on one cyl,I'd bet that coil is either ,bad,poorly grounded,or the connections are rusty.You could also buy a test button ,simply a push button with a wire that you coud connect to the positive battery terminal,or on the soloniod,and clip the other end to the smaller terminal on the solonoid with the yel.red striped wire ,there are 2 smaller terminal,one is grounded,you dont want that one,if you put a terst button between the positive of the solonoid and the wire to the starter,you might draw too much amperage and burn the test button out if you crank too long,thats why its best to jump to the yel.red

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Proper way to jump start the starter

Assuming the battery is connected, jump from the large lug on the solenoid on the BATTERY side (the other large lug is connected to the starter) to the small lug nearest to it. That will trip the solenoid.

EDIT: I'm late again.

 

[ezeke]

Re: Proper way to jump start the starter

Mikesea, you are a *'n genius but your stream of consciousness makes Virginia Woolf look like a piker.

To RbBrox; When you check for spark, do you have all of the spark plugs out? If not, then you should.

 

[rbbrox]

Re: Proper way to jump start the starter

assuming you dont have any testing equipt.,and to protect the threads on the starter anbd soloniod,remove the heavy starter wire from the solonoid,and use the end of it to touch your jumper cable to.You will get some sparks ,but if you touch it with a good strong contact,the sparking will minimize,you say the powerpacks andcoils test good,have you swapped the coil from the no spark cyl.with one that you know works,if your not getting spark on one cyl,I'd bet that coil is either ,bad,poorly grounded,or the connections are rusty.You could also buy a test button ,simply a push button with a wire that you coud connect to the positive battery terminal,or on the soloniod,and clip the other end to the smaller terminal on the solonoid with the yel.red striped wire ,there are 2 smaller terminal,one is grounded,you dont want that one,if you put a terst button between the positive of the solonoid and the wire to the starter,you might draw too much amperage and burn the test button out if you crank too long,thats why its best to jump to the yel.red

Each spark plug had spark by swaping terminal at pak which tells me each coil is good because each spark plug wire goes into it's own coil as you know.

 

[mikesea]

Re: Proper way to jump start the starter

if you have found the powerpacks and coils ok,your problem is under the flywheel,.i'll bet the sensor coil.But it could be flywheel,There are tests that can be done with ohmmeter or C.D. voltmeters.If your interested in doing them and hve the meters,ask for the tests.I'll get the book out then. good luck.I apologize if my previous post was confusing or labored. I got the feeling the poster was concerened for fire and thought I'd give a couple ways to procede.Just getting the jumper cables out and smacking em to 12 volts with fulll amp.does produce the sparkes he was trying to avoid.