4age volt problem

[drifterkid86]

quick question If you look at the picture below

I noticed that my car is putting out 12.4v from the red wire when I disconnect it from the starter plug and crank the motor but once I reconnect the red wire to my starter wire it only reads about 8v when cranking and the car wont start. I am able to run a wire directly from the battery positive to the starter plug and start the car that way.

*note: the red wire in the picture runs directly from the battery positive through a fuse to a momentary switch then directly out to the starter plug. so I'm confused as to why it would get 12v when not plugged in but then read 8v when plug in to the starter plug????

[Grant]

Well that looks like a non-stock harness wire, so did you check the wiring to make sure things are going where they should be?

Power and ignition are on pages 14-16 in the manual.
http://files.aeu86.org/manuals/ewd-ae86 ... parrot.pdf

[drifterkid86]

Yea its not a stock wire I replaced all the old corroded wiring from the old harness that sits under the steering column that controls acc, ignition, and start functions with new wires.
I been running this set up for the last year or two so with no problems. but I did take everything apart and check all wires and all connections and all volts and everything is correct.

I did find though that when I jump the wire directly from the battery positive to the starter plug and start the car that way the car will turn off and on like normal and pull 12v to the starter, almost like I have to prime the starter with electricity first but if I let it sit over night it will only draw 8v even on a fully charged battery, which is making me think that the starter could be going out?

[jondee86]

If you have 12V at one end of a wire, and 8V at the other end, you enough
resistance to drop 4V when solenoid current is flowing. When there is no
current flowing (wire unplugged) you will have the same voltage both ends.
So somewhere between the battery post and the end of that red wire you
have a bad join, bad contacts, or some other problem that adds resistance
to the circuit.

Working fine for the rest of the day after being jumped direct with 12V is
the AE86 equivalent of having your first cup of coffee in the morning

Cheers... jondee86

[drifterkid86]

Guess I'm going out and triple checking the wires again XD

[jondee86]

If you unplug the wire, you should be able to check the end to end
resistance with your meter set to Ohms. If you have some alligator
clip test wires, set the meter up so you can watch the reading, and
see if the initial reading changes after you push your momentart
button a few times. The resistance should be next to nothing, so use
your meter on its most sensitive range (if there is more than one).

Cheers... jondee86