Burnt up another starter relay

[mikeyfrano]

Went to leave a car show and my car wouldn't keep running. Fired up 1 Rev then died, did this a few times. Ended up being my starter relay.
I ran a wire from my batter to my coil n drove it home. I got another relay and I drove it 5 miles to the closest gas station went in got a coffee came out and same thing happened. Got another relay, same thing happened again. Said something about it to a Ford friend and he said he had the same problem when we were kids and ended up being a ground problem from the engine to the frame. Said I may need to scrap some paint off to get go ground. Has anyone heard of this or had to do this themselves

 

[Darthomas]

Open one and see what burned.
Did the coil burn open, or did the contacts burn?
It would still crank after these failures, but not run, or it would not crank?
Sounds like it did crank.
Contacts that burn out are carrying too much current. Does the ammeter deflect a normal amount when key is in ignition position, or go way over into discharge?
Shorted windings in alternator stator would draw excessive current, and still might charge some. Charging seems OK?

 

[mikeyfrano]

Charging seems ok. The car actually starts with 1 Rev but that's it. I will have to do what you said about opening a relay and seeing what has happened to it. Thanks for the advice.

 

[mikeyfrano]

Open one and see what burned.
Did the coil burn open, or did the contacts burn?
It would still crank after these failures, but not run, or it would not crank?
Sounds like it did crank.
Contacts that burn out are carrying too much current. Does the ammeter deflect a normal amount when key is in ignition position, or go way over into discharge?
Shorted windings in alternator stator would draw excessive current, and still might charge some. Charging seems OK?

The contacts look fine don't know about the coil burn open I'll have to check on the ammeter when I get home

 

[747mopar]

Sounds like a ballast to me? Forgive me if your not running a ballast but if you are running a jumper from the battery to the coil would have bypassed the ballast allowing it to run. The telltale sign of a bad ballast is the car will fire while cranking but immediately die once the key is returned to the run position which is when the ballast does its job

 

[Darthomas]

The contacts do look OK, now it's time to measure the coil resistance.

 

[mikeyfrano]

The contacts do look OK, now it's time to measure the coil resistance.

Sounds like a ballast to me? Forgive me if your not running a ballast but if you are running a jumper from the battery to the coil would have bypassed the ballast allowing it to run. The telltale sign of a bad ballast is the car will fire while cranking but immediately die once the key is returned to the run position which is when the ballast does its job

That was the first thing I tried and it was a no go

 

[mikeyfrano]

The contacts do look OK, now it's time to measure the coil resistance.

I'm at work right now, but when I get home I will test. Am I suppose to measure from each side of the coil or from a post to a ground?

 

[747mopar]

The relay allows the starter to crank while in neutral, my understanding is its still cranking just not running? I'd put a meter to the output of the ballast then the input and work your way back, could easily be an ignition switch or wiring to and from.

 

[Darthomas]

Trace the ends of the fine wire of the coil to the terminals and measure resistance between those 2 points.

 

[mikeyfrano]

Trace the ends of the fine wire of the coil to the terminals and measure resistance between those 2 points.

Thank you

 

[mikeyfrano]

Thank you

I just hate it when I get home to do something , but I can't because I loaned the thing I need to someone who lives 30 mi. Away and hasn't brought it back

 

[Darthomas]

If you have no meter, just connect 12 volts to the terminals where the coil is attached, and see if it pulls the armature down and makes the contacts touch.

 

[mikeyfrano]

If you have no meter, just connect 12 volts to the terminals where the coil is attached, and see if it pulls the armature down and makes the contacts touch.

Contacts touch when I touch coil with 13 volts

 

[Darthomas]

Then it's not "burnt up".
Hmmmm, let's think.

 

[mikeyfrano]

Then it's not "burnt up".

 

[Darthomas]

If you keep holding the key in start position after it starts, just for a second or two , does it keep running, and then die when you release the key?
That would be a dead ballast resistor.

 

[Darthomas]

Or bad circuit ( corroded or heat damaged bulkhead connector) for the power from the ignition switch to the ballast resistor.

 

[mikeyfrano]

Could a bad balast cause t

If you keep holding the key in start position after it starts, just for a second or two , does it keep running, and then die when you release the key?
That would be a dead ballast resistor.

I'll try a new blast tomarrow after work. Maybe the blast that I barrowed wasn't any good. They are cheap enough that I'll try a new one. But it still doesn't make sense to me that a new starter real can make it run

 

[mikeyfrano]

Or bad circuit ( corroded or heat damaged bulkhead connector) for the power from the ignition switch to the ballast resistor.

I hope it's not that everything on my car was new just 3 yrs ago