[black death]

Installed remote solinoid looked at differnt posts for installing..Hokked it up step by step as per directions..when i test i have power from the battery to the left post on the remote solinoid.Have no power from battery cable going to starter from other post on remote solinoid.. If i hook both battery cable to the same post on ford solinoid ,as soon as i hook up battery,the starter wants to engagE....?????? If i hook up the cable from the battery to the remote post and have power to the solinoid, shouldnt i have power at the other post as well?? Any thoughts,suggestions would be most helpful..

[gtome]

You need to run the battery cable from the battery (and the other wire that was originally on the battery post of the starter) to the left side post of the remote solinoid, and then run the cable to the starter from the same post. Basically keeping the starter hot just like it was from the factory, but with a junction at the remote solinoid. Then run your original "start" terminal ( that was on your "s" on the starter) to the "s" on the remote solinoid. Then just run a 8g - 10g wire from the large (right side) cold post from the remote solinoid to the "s" terminal on the starter. If you hook it this way it will be fine.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

About the same thing gtome said

The ford solenoid is just a heavy duty relay. Battery (+) cable goes to one side and the other side goes to the starter. You hook your original starter solenoid engage wire (purple) to the little post on the ford solenoid. Then when you turn the switch to crank position, the ford solenoid trips/engages and sends power down to the starter.

You'll need a jumper or copper strip to hook from the battery cable stud on the starter solenoid to the 'S' terminal on the solenoid. 'S' terminal is where the original purple engage wire was hooked up.

Hooked up this way, the solenoid gets more power for starting/engaging. The starter has the same amount of power as before. The ford relay just turns the power on and off going down to the starter.

[black death]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

About the same thing gtome said

The ford solenoid is just a heavy duty relay. Battery (+) cable goes to one side and the other side goes to the starter. You hook your original starter solenoid engage wire (purple) to the little post on the ford solenoid. Then when you turn the switch to crank position, the ford solenoid trips/engages and sends power down to the starter.

You'll need a jumper or copper strip to hook from the battery cable stud on the starter solenoid to the 'S' terminal on the solenoid. 'S' terminal is where the original purple engage wire was hooked up.

Hooked up this way, the solenoid gets more power for starting/engaging. The starter has the same amount of power as before. The ford relay just turns the power on and off going down to the starter.

Thats how i have it wired. When i hook up the battery ,the starter wants to engage..It doesnt matter if i have the purple wire hooked up or not.The starter wants to engage when the battery is hooked up..

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by black death

..when i test i have power from the battery to the left post on the remote solinoid.Have no power from battery cable going to starter from other post on remote solinoid.. If i hook both battery cable to the same post on ford solinoid ,as soon as i hook up battery,the starter wants to engagE....?????? If i hook up the cable from the battery to the remote post and have power to the solinoid, shouldnt i have power at the other post as well??..

Cables need hooked up like you first stated. Battery hot on one side, and starter cable on the other side with no power. When you engage the ford solenoid the starter gets power.

So tell us again how you've got it wired up. You may have a bad ford solenoid, if it's staying engaged with no purple wire hooked up.

[black death]

I have the battery cable from the battery to the large post on the ford sol. then i have a battery cable going from the same post on the ford sol.to the battery connection on the original gm sol.purple going to the the s side on the ford sol.. Other large red wire that was on the battery cable connection from gm sol to power side of ford sol..Hook up the battery and starter engages.With or without purple attached...

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Battery (+) cable and the other red wires go on one side of the ford solenoid.
Cable to starter goes on the other side of the ford solenoid by itself.

Hook it up like that and the purple wire will engage it like it's suppose to.

You're not sending powering to the small wires with the ford solenoid, only the starter gets powerd up by the ford solenoid. Small wires stay hot all the time on the (+) battery cable side of the ford solenoid.
Battery (+) cable and starter cable bolted down together, is just like having one cable. Power would go straight to the starter. The ford solenoid is suppose to make a break in the battery (+) to starter cable.

Is this starting to make more sense?

[LPete]

The cable to the battery and the cable to the starter need to be on opposite terminals of the new relay, not the same terminal. The other red wire that used to be on the starter battery terminal needs to go on the same terminal of the new relay as the battery cable is on.

[2002Z4CSS]

What kind of starter is in the car? Some of the aftermarket high torque starters will engage as you described since they have a different solenoid than a stock GM one.

[gtome]

Originally Posted by LPete

The cable to the battery and the cable to the starter need to be on opposite terminals of the new relay, not the same terminal. The other red wire that used to be on the starter battery terminal needs to go on the same terminal of the new relay as the battery cable is on.

For this to work correctly, everything that was on the big post of the starter originally needs to be on the left post of the remote solinoid, then the big cable to that same origial post on the starter needs to come from the SAME post on the remote solinoid. Essentually making one cable that comes from the battery to the starter, just "tee's" at the remote.
Purple "s" start wire from the harness to the "s" on the remote, then the large cold post of the remote goes to the "s" on the starter.
I just did this a few days ago and it works great.

You know after thinking about it, I guess you could run battery and other red wire to the left side of remote, the original "s" to the remote "s", and a large cable from the cold side of the remote to the big "batt" post of the starter....then a little jumper from the big "batt" post of the starter to the "s" of the starter.
That would also work, either way should make it work.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by gtome

You know after thinking about it, I guess you could run battery and other red wire to the left side of remote, the original "s" to the remote "s", and a large cable from the cold side of the remote to the big "batt" post of the starter....then a little jumper from the big "batt" post of the starter to the "s" of the starter.
That would also work, either way should make it work.

That's how ford wired them originally on 460's. Purpose was two fold; increase power to the solenoid for cranking, and kill power to the starter, for safety, when not being used.
The 460's had delco type solenoids with a copper strap tieing the big post to the S post.

[black death]

Originally Posted by LPete

The cable to the battery and the cable to the starter need to be on opposite terminals of the new relay, not the same terminal. The other red wire that used to be on the starter battery terminal needs to go on the same terminal of the new relay as the battery cable is on.

Ok. I have it wired the way you described in this post..Now all i have is power to the post that goes to the battery..cable going to the starter motor has no power...Dont get it...

[quicksilver97ta]

Originally Posted by LPete

The cable to the battery and the cable to the starter need to be on opposite terminals of the new relay, not the same terminal. The other red wire that used to be on the starter battery terminal needs to go on the same terminal of the new relay as the battery cable is on.

That's how I've always done it. Use a short 10ga jumper wire at the starter to jump the solinoid on the starter. This is the most reliable way, remove the voltage from the starter completely when not in use. Wire the typical purple start wire to the ford solinoid.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by black death

Ok. I have it wired the way you described in this post..Now all i have is power to the post that goes to the battery..cable going to the starter motor has no power...Dont get it...

That's right. Hook up the purple wire and engage the ford solenoid with the ignition switch. Then power will go down to the starter.
You can touch the ford s terminal with a jumper wire from battery (+) for testing.
If it's a straight shift, make sure it's in neutral.

Come back and tell us you've got it figured out.

[BVR421]

Originally Posted by gtome

You need to run the battery cable from the battery (and the other wire that was originally on the battery post of the starter) to the left side post of the remote solinoid, and then run the cable to the starter from the same post. Basically keeping the starter hot just like it was from the factory, but with a junction at the remote solinoid. Then run your original "start" terminal ( that was on your "s" on the starter) to the "s" on the remote solinoid. Then just run a 8g - 10g wire from the large (right side) cold post from the remote solinoid to the "s" terminal on the starter. If you hook it this way it will be fine.

this only replaces the purple exciter wire which can help sometimes as it bypasses poor voltage due to the circuitous path that wire takes from bat to starter.
I much prefer Quicksilvers way and the way blackdeath tried. the ford type relay to starter cable is always dead -except- when the purple wire from key switch that used to go to starter is used to energize the relay instead of the starter solinoid. the new ford type relay then sends full power to both the starter motor and the starter solinoid at the same time via the jumper wire quicksilver mentioned. I really like having the starter cable that is snaking down behind hot manifolds totally dead except when cranking.
Blackdeath, if you were able to see inside the ford relay, its just a big high amp 12v switch that is activated by low amp 12v (small terminals) to join the big terminals from the battery side to the starter side. thats why there was no voltage to starter when you put a cable on each big post, its waiting for power from key and purple solinoid wire to turn on that big relay. dont forget to install the the jumper on starter solinoid or starter will just spin but not engage..

[johnta1]

Starter Relay How-To

[BVR421]

good link John your picture is worth a thousand of our words. LOL

[gtome]

Ya after pondering the way you all are doing it, I figured it to be a better way of wireing it. I will be re-doing mine with a piece of copper tube beat flat to connect "s" and "batt" on the starter. Plus that is one less wire that can get burnt from routing around the headers.

[black death]

I know i am not an idiot..I did all my homework before starting the project..ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE..Come to find out,bad F.O.R.D F cked Over Rebuilt Dodge sol... ( I HATE FORD)...Got another one ,hooked up the way i did it in the first place..All works just fine..Thanks everyone for all there input..

[gtome]

Awwww! Thats the worst!! Oh well... at least you got er going! I know what you mean, I hated putting a Ford part on my car. In fact I went as far as finding a GM # from a motorhome that had a solinoid, but they didnt have it. So I was left with Ford.