Starter Grounded?

[tolonian]

Hi,

Does anybody know if ALL 2.25 starters need to be grounded with a strap to the frame? the green bible says grounded "if applicable" or something to that effect. My series II has no ground strap, but has power through the solenoid to the starter and no movement.
In reading through older posts re this subject it seems attaching the starter to the engine is no ground due to rubber mounts!
I'm hoping for the easy fix!

Thanks,

[jac04]

You (obviously) need to be grounded somehow. I'm not familiar with the SII vehicles. Is there a ground anywhere else to the engine block or transmission? If not, I'd run a strap from the starter to the chassis. Also make sure that the chassis has a good ground back to the battery

[knac1234]

FWIW, before getting my hi torque starter, the starter I had was weak starting. Part of the problem was the battery, which I replaced. Still weak. I then grounded it directly to the battery. Huge difference (also have a strap from the battery to the engine block).

Julian

[Nium]

Yes, you have to have a ground strap from the engine to the chassis. It is good to locate on the mounting bolts of the starter because it thereby grounds the body of the starter and the high current for the starter doesn't need to find a path through the engine to the ground strap located away from the starter. A ground strap can be located anywhere on the engine and should work. More then one ground strap can be located from the chassis to the engine.

A simple scheme to think of to understand why you need a ground strap would be to think of a battery and a light bulb. If you ran a wire from one terminal of the battery to the light bulb it wouldn't light because ther is no return path for the electricity but you would have power to the bulb. Once a wire is attached from the other side of the battery to the light bulb it would illuminate. This is the same for any DC system even the starter circuit. The solenoid is a heavy duty switch that when closed (key in the starter position) will provide a path for current to flow to the starter but with out a return path (ground strap) no current will flow.

A quick way to test if you need a ground strap would be to take one wire of a set of jumper cables (the two clips that are colored black) and attach one black clip to the side of the battery attached to the frame. Attach the other black clip to the mounting bolts of the starter. Make sure to route the jumper cable away from the fan and the red clips wouldn't be used. now you have solidly grounded the starter. Turn the key and the starter should spin. If it does the problem is a lack of a ground strap and a permanent ground strap should be installed (if there isn't a ground strap from the engine to chassis it will need to be installed regardless). If it doesn't spin something else is wrong.

Cheers!