New Caprice - Discussion forums

OK, had to go take a look. It has been a while since I have pulled a relay out on one of these things. It is just a 4 pin relay that does not matter how you plug it in. Pins 30 & 87 are your controlled circuit. The fuse box terminal that should be hot all of the time is on the top left, looking towards the fire wall. Jumper to the bottom right terminal and the engine should crank. Jumping it like that is the next best thing to crawling under the car. The terminals to jumper have a tin color to them. The other two are copper/brass colored.

All correct. I'm definitely looking at the socket, not the relay. Top left is the hot terminal, but one of the diagrams has that terminal as #30, the other #87. Convinced now that the diagram #87 hot is bassackwards. Has to be.

Going to jumper 30 and 87 and will report back...

amx1pxp wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:39 pm I see re-manufactured AcDelco "Gold" unit made by Mitsubishi. Did that thing come with the solenoid attached? Did you replace the whole assembly together, or just the starter?

I went with new, was a little cheaper last year less than 100$ shipped, but even now its cheaper than most reman units.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 29GJMuSJnn

Came with the solenoid?

The new GM ones comes with a solenoid. Decades ago you could buy a reman direct drive starter without a solenoid. Never have seen a gear reduction starter from anyone that did not come without a solenoid.

Thanks!!

I found the problem. Engine was not grounded properly. There is a large grounding strap that is attached to the front of the passenger side cylinder head on one end, the other end is attached to the right inner fender sheetmetal. When I pulled the heads for the delete, had to disconnect the strap. I was probing all over the starter, solenoid, and fuse block with my test light and noticed that when I grounded the light to the engine, the light would come on erratically - off, then on, bright, and suddenly go dim. Hooked up a load tester to the positive terminal that is right next to the fuse block panel under the hood (with negative attached to the engine). Showed 12 volts but when a load was applied, needle would peg to the far right side of the scale (weak, or no voltage). Finally I took my jumper cables and jumped the engine block to the ground on the right fender and the engine cranked over, no problem.

When I put everything back together after the delete, I attached the grounding strap to the engine, but forgot to tighten it - it was only finger tight!! Put a socket on it and cinched it down... bingo!

Thanks for all your input guys. Was getting close to towing it to the dealer. Glad I stuck with it.

Good job sticking with it! There are so many things nowadays to get an engine running. Way back when adjusting points or setting up a carburetor was easy to do but, that was the most complicated, at that time...

Maurice

Thanks for posting the solution. Did something similar to that about 25 years ago. After that, I always tighten the bolt then or just get the bolt started, so it is obvious that it is not tight.