Wiring to starter solenoid

[Dave Woodward]

Hi guys,

Hope you are all well.

I am trying to hook the wiring loom into the starter solenoid and need some guidance. There are cleary three wires in the loom that need to find a home, a 'cluster' of heavy duty brown wires, one white/red wire and one white/yellow wire.

The Hawk wiring instructions suggest that the brown wires go to the battery terminal, the white/red wire goes to the terminal marked 'ing' (Rover installation) and the white/yellow wire goes to the remaining terminal.

Looking at my starter solenoid as it is installed in the car (standard rover issue) I can see the following terminal layout:

- four terminals positions arranged top, bottom, left, right (with the starter motor to the right of the solenoid)

- right most terminal already connected to the starter motor.

- bottom most terminal appears to be blanked off, with no thread or conductivity. More of a stub than a terminal.

- This leaves the left and upper terminals available (the left terminal appearing to be slightly larger guage than the top terminal)

Problem: three wires, two terminals, and no clear markings to suggest which goes where.

Haynes manual of no help.

Can anybody advise based in their builds.

Thanks.

Dave.

[clive]

My wiring diagram states for the starter motor
All Browns - To starter Solenoid BATTERY LEAD Terminal
White/Red - To 6.3mm male terminal "IG" on Rover Applications
White/Yellow - To remaining 6.3 mm Terminal.

I think the brown wires might go to the same terminal as the main battery lead.

There are also brown wires in the engine harness that connect to the alternator.

[Gareth Cole]

The browns should have ring terminals on them and they go on the terminal with the nut on, along with the positive battery lead. (Thats how the loom itself derives its power). On some cars the positive battery lead goes to a cut off switch inside the car, then back to the starter motor. Either way the browns go straight onto the starter.

The white/red is the 'crank' wire, ie, the one that goes live when you turn the key to the 'start' position.

Chances are you don't need the white/yellow. If I recall correctly that was only ever used on engines with a ballast resisted coil and it feeds 12v to the outfeed of the ballast resistor (ie, 12v straight onto the coil) whilst the engine is cranking to give it a half decent spark. Most setups now are a straight 12v coil anyway, so just tape the white/yellow back into the loom. Once you've got everything running and working you can cut it off.

Gareth

[RUT220G]

The White/Yellow wire at the starter motor and coil ends is the ballast resistor 'bypass' wire to feed a full 12v to the coil to provide full power to the coil during starting only. It is designed to go live only when the starter motor is turning through an extra contact in the starter solenoid. I had probelms with starting my Rover V8 initially due to a sluggish starter motor and replaced it with a high torque starter motor which did not have the bypass terminal to connect the white/yellow wire - but as the new starter motor is much more efficient I had no need to bypass the ballast resistor any more. The car starts fine without the white/yellow wire connected.

A tip for wiring the car is that before you fit the loom to the car match each wire / pair of wires to the wiring instructions and label them. That way you can connect the wires without constantly referring back to the instructions.

[Dave Woodward]

RUT220G.

Thanks for the tip. I had labelled all wires as per the document prior to fitting the loom (just making final connections), although as with all good projects there were still a few spares at the back of the dash !!!

Dave.

[Dave Woodward]

Thanks all for the guidance.

I will tape back the white/yellow and connect the brown and white/red wires to the two remaining connectors.

Given that I cannot make out any labels on the back of the solenoid, will I break the solenoid if I connect the two the wrong way around initially.

Otherwise, if somebody has a similar solenoid, can they advise which connector to take the brown power lead.

Thanks.

Dave.

[RUT220G]

Dave,

The browns connect to the same terminal as the main lead from the battery - the larger guage terminal. The red/white will connect to the smaller terminal. You should not be able to conect them the wrong way around as the browns will have a ring terminal connector that only fits the larger guage terminal and the red/white will have a push fit blade connector. The solenoid should have corresponding terminal types. If you want to discuss further PM me and I'll talk you through this.