mk2 1.9 td swap almost complete. Questions...

[ldeikis]

Im pretty sure im doing it right because theres only one spot i can see to hook it up to. and thats where the battery is hooked up.

Brandon--

I apologize if I'm assuming your knowledge of starters to be more basic than it is, but it sounds like you might not get the whole picture here:

I'm not at all familiar with MK2s, and I've never had to mess with the starter on my rabbit, BUT...  on most cars simply attaching positive power to the big lug on the starter where the fat wire from the battery connect won't do anything.  Think about it--if power to that lug was all that's necessary to run the starter, and it's always connected to the battery via that fat cable, then the starter would ALWAYS be trying to run.  Instead what you have is a solenoid (that smaller round thing piggybacked onto the starter) that is both a giant relay and also a mechanical gizmo that physically pushes the starter's "nose" out to make it interact with the engine/trans.  When you energize (power) the solenoid, it pushes the starter out and simulataneously completes the circuit in the starter--so if there is ALSO power to that big lug on the starter, the starter will spin.  If you only energize the solenoid (ie, you connect your jumper to the solenoid but there is NOT a hot wire to the starter lug) you will hear/feel a solid CLICK as the solenoid pushes the starter nose out, but the starter won't turn because it doesn't have power even though the circuit has been closed.  

This link explains it better:
http://www.samarins.com/glossary/starter.html


As a safety note:  Please triple make sure your car is in neutral if you go about this.  If the starter is healthy and your problem is elsewhere, then energizing the solenoid with a jumper will turn the engine over even if the key's off--if you're lying under the car and it's in gear, it could be a bad scene.

Good luck.

Luke

PS I join the chorus for bad battery connections/grounds, too.  99% of the time that's been the problem.  

[brandon5]

Ok so what im going to do is grab some pictures of the initial setup just to make sure its hooked up correctly. Im probably going to make my self look stupid in the process but i want this running.

And your completely right luke, Im still learning as i go. Its a tough process but getting these answers is making this more understanding for me.

Thanks guys.

[brandon5]

Ok so im going to take the starter out tomorrow and check my battery to. But just to make sure everything is right here it is.









Sorry for the terrible blurry pics.

[brandon5]

So i got the gosh darned starter out and it wound right up when i put power on it. Could it be the solonoid thats not letting it turn in the engine? Or am i having issues with the mk3 ignition.


edit. If i touch it to just the solenoid nothing happens. so i geuss its done.

[Rabbit on Roids]

you are supposed to have power to the solenoid and the starter terminal when testing it.

[BigDiesel359]

I haven't looked at my Mk3 golf, but on my 5.9 Cummins it only has a positive to the solenoid and positive to the main lug, it grounds through the case and through the rest of the engine grounds. What you need to do is hook your jumper cables pos. battery to the main lug on the starter and leave it there, nothing will happen yet, have another smaller wire (14gauge) that also goes to pos. battery and jump that to the solenoid when you want to spin it. If the starter grounds through the case likes other starters, hook it up anywhere close you can get a good ground.

[Rabbit on Roids]

I haven't looked at my Mk3 golf, but on my 5.9 Cummins it only has a positive to the solenoid and positive to the main lug, it grounds through the case and through the rest of the engine grounds. What you need to do is hook your jumper cables pos. battery to the main lug on the starter and leave it there, nothing will happen yet, have another smaller wire (14gauge) that also goes to pos. battery and jump that to the solenoid when you want to spin it. If the starter grounds through the case likes other starters, hook it up anywhere close you can get a good ground.

this is a good way to do it for sure. and yea, the starter uses a common (engine) ground. but i like to mount a ground cable to the starter lug too.

[NintendoKD]

I have had this happen as well, if the Pos on the starter is too tight, then she won't start either, don't know why, but this has helped me numerous times in the past, even with the diesel, "when it actually ran"  I set up a dual CCA battery setup in the trunk, and when I reconnected the starter to the POS wire I over-tightened it, and didn't even think that it could be possible to do this, sure as S *** that was the problem, since then this has happened on two other separate occasions.

Hope that helps,

Kevin