starter

[sunnysr]

my starter is not disengaging properly it does some times but others it stays engaged (more does than doesnt ) i have only just refitted the engine and what have you any ideas on what it could be other than knackered ,i am assuming the thick wires on it can only go one way around . thanks in advance

[Brianmoooore]

Where have you connected the red wire from the alternator?

[sunnysr]

cheers for the reply Brian if anyone will know its you ..i have the red wire on the left (the side close to the engine ..left if you are looking at the wires from the front of the car) and the fat black wire is on the right ,then the little thin wire is on the bottom ...im sure i had these the other way around then when i went to connect the battery it sparked so i swapped them to the configuration they are now

[BenHar]

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ter#Wiring

Ben

[sunnysr]

bugger what a nob i had it right first time , i must have had the ignition on or something when i went to connect the battery ,thanks for the help .that wiki is a very helpful thing i just seem to miss bits

[Brianmoooore]

BOTH wires go on the outside large terminal.

[sunnysr]

just saved me from another ballsup there ,so whats that on the left terminal on the pic it looks like the other wire ....can you tell this is the first one i have done haha

[BenHar]

Click on the picture to see the bigger version. Then you can see that there is nothing on the left terminal.

Ben

[Brianmoooore]

Inner terminal has a braid connected to it, going to the motor, as in the pic., or sometimes the braid is replaced by a piece of copper strip.
If you look at the pic. really carefully, you'll see that the smallest terminal, where the black/green wire connects, has a metal strip running to the inner large terminal, so in reality the black/green connects to the inner large terminal as well.

[sunnysr]

Ok thank you for that lads ,I will do that tonight .