Extra ground for starter?

[CUCV85beast]

I recently ordered a 24 volt starter online, slapped it in thinking my problems were over. (had to deal with a shop giving me 12 volt starters and saying they were 24 volt starters, they actually stated "all diesel starters are 24 volts", and soon after I confronted them with somewhat of an unfriendly nature they "looked it up" and found that a 24 volt military starter "did not exist", I showed them a site online that clearly showed that it DID exist...suddenly they COULD find it, but for 300 dollars... I just hassled them until I got my money back and ordered it myself for 100 bucks)

Anyway you can see why it was such a joy to finally have the right part for my truck.

But soon after installing, my starter stopped working. only a single click every time. I went to autozone and bought a 12 volt starter (knowing it work at least a few times) put it in and drove my truck the 30 miles home, took it out and returned it to get my money back.

The company I ordered the 24v from was actually local so I took it in intending to have it replaced, but they hooked it up to the tester and found that it worked just fine (I saw this with my own eyes). The guy there told me that 24 volt starters sometimes need an "extra ground" to work properly...something about resistance.

I'm planning on doing the doghead relay conversion in a couple of days and putting the starter back in...
Does anyone know how I would go about adding an extra ground to my starter? or if there is another reason this could be happening... I know its hooked up properly because all those 12 volt starters worked just fine until they died... any help is greatly appreciated

 

[ralbelt]

I think that it is more Important to have a GOOD ground, 2 bad grounds will not be any better. Clean up what you have.

 

[CUCV85beast]

Yeah thats what I thought too, the existing ground is the one connected to the relay am I right? Doing the doghead conversion and making sure everything is solid should fix the problem...which is why I was doing it. I am pretty noob when it comes to electrical so figured i should ask just in case.

 

[scoutdoors1000]

Your wiring is incorrect. If you hooked up a 12 v starter and it worked....something is not right. The 12 v starter should (?) have tried to turn over immediately if things were hooked up correctly. From my past experience, which is prettly much nil (with the exception of replacing a starter once), I THINK the 24 v starter sees both 12 and 24 volts at some point in addition to the ground which allows it to turn over. Again this is I think.

 

[CUCV85beast]

Your wiring is incorrect. If you hooked up a 12 v starter and it worked....something is not right. The 12 v starter should (?) have tried to turn over immediately if things were hooked up correctly. From my past experience, which is prettly much nil (with the exception of replacing a starter once), I THINK the 24 v starter sees both 12 and 24 volts at some point in addition to the ground which allows it to turn over. Again this is I think.

You are incorrect, a 12v starter will work at least a few times before it is burned out. thanks for trying though.

 

[scoutdoors1000]

Interesting. I ran into a different prob. Wonder what the difference was. When I tried to use a 12 v to get home when in a pinch it was quite an adventure. Hooked it up like norm underneath. Batteries were disconnected except the dogbone in the middle. Then with key out of ignition, I hooked up the pos terminal...well tried to because the starter would immediately start cranking when I just touched it to the terminal. So naturally I stop with that. I then touched the ground to the neg terminal and it tried to start up again??? Got the 24 and hooked it up and then she started up beautifully. Thoughts?

 

[Warthog]

The ground for the starter itself is the two mounting bolts and the support bracket.

The ground for the starter relay is the tiny black wire at the starter relay under the dash.

They may have been talking about an additional ground between the battery and the frame/engine.

Make sure all the gound points are clean and tight.

 

[CUCV85beast]

Thanks warthog, you've come to my rescue a few times now. know by chance where to get a good deal on some new batteries?

 

[CUCV85beast]

Interesting. I ran into a different prob. Wonder what the difference was. When I tried to use a 12 v to get home when in a pinch it was quite an adventure. Hooked it up like norm underneath. Batteries were disconnected except the dogbone in the middle. Then with key out of ignition, I hooked up the pos terminal...well tried to because the starter would immediately start cranking when I just touched it to the terminal. So naturally I stop with that. I then touched the ground to the neg terminal and it tried to start up again??? Got the 24 and hooked it up and then she started up beautifully. Thoughts?

Funny enough the same exact thing happened to me before, starter cranking as i was hooking up the terminals... sparks and smoke were involved too haha... ended up being that the starter cable (where it connects to the starter) wasn't tightened enough and shifted consequently touching the block and grounding out. crawled underneath and fixed the cable and problem was solved.

 

[scoutdoors1000]

hmmm....CRAP. oh well I met some great people in the process. Would have been nice to not have to sit around in some small town waiting on a purple PT cruiser rental car to be delivered.