Firebird

The vehicle is a 1932 Chevy RestoRod w/ a 350/350 combo in it. The problem I am finding is that the solenoid is only getting 5 volts on the small wires when the key is in the "start" position. It is the same with the wire on of off the starter. I tried jumping the starter from the primary to one of the small posts and it worked just fine. The main wire is getting 12 volts and the ignition switch is putting out 12 volts with they key in the start position, however the starter wire off the ignition switch is yellow and the wires running to the starter are black, so I am wondering if there is some kind of relay it is running to or something that isn't working property. I found the fuse panel and tried swapping the only relay in the fuse panel with another one, same problem. Stuff on the panel isn't labeled super well.

Anyway have any ideas on how it could be only getting 5 volts at the starter solenoid?

Thanks,
Dougkas

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Vigilante

Being a street rod, it is hard to tell if there is a relay or some other device installed in the wire going to the solenoid that is robbing voltage. But I bet it is a pretty simple circuit. You should check to see if there is anything else fed from this wire... there should not be as whatever device may be hooked up to it will only be powered when the key is in the "start" position.

My guess is that the wire has a corroded splice somewhere between the ignition switch and the solenoid connection, or it is partially grounded from weak insulation (say it goes through a hole in some sheet metal and it has vibrated/worn through the wire insulation). You should probably trace the wire(s) to be sure.

If I understand your post correctly, you have 12V at the ig switch, but at the starter only 5V even when it is disconnected from the starter? Did you test the actual wire at the ig switch or just the connector at the ig switch? If you have 12V in the wire itself (poke your multimeter lead thru the insulation), I would be willing to bet you have a fault in the wire somewhere between as mentioned above. If you only tested the connection on the ig switch, it could still possibly be your ignition switch itself.

A good way to test this is to induce voltage into the wire while disconnected from the ig switch. Disconnect the wire from the ig switch, hook it to a known 12V source (fuse panel acc lead maybe- use a short piece of wire to reach to it from the fuse panel), verify you have 12V in the wire where it connected to your ig switch, then go under and verify you have 12V at the solenoid disconnected. If you leave it connected, you'll hear the solenoid click, but you might hear that even with the 5V, so I would disconnect it and take the actual reading with your multimeter.

If all that checks out and you suddenly get 12V at the solenoid, it's prolly your ig switch. If you still get only 5V, your best bet is to trace the wire and look for problems somewhere between the ig switch and solenoid.

Hope that helps--- would like to see a pic of this '32!

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