How robust are starter solenoids?

[vancouverbc]

A car thief blew my 30 amp ignition switch fuse. I get power to starter solenoid but starter does not crank. Is the solenoid more likely to be damaged than a relay?

[s13sr20chris]

the solenoids are pretty tough. when they are not working i whack the snot out of them with my biggest prybar. that usually sets them straight for a minute or so. are you getting power to the big terminal on the solenoid? how about the smaller plug-in? lastly the big terminal on the starter motor? you could try jumping the relay. if you want to do this double check with me to avoid jumping the coil side and letting the smoke out.

[vancouverbc]

I get power at the plug-in(small wire) when i turn ignition to start. I tested one of the big terminals to ground and got 12 volts with ignition off. The solenoid is attached to starter motor so it is hard to see the terminals.I did connect the small wire from solenoid to the positive of the battery and only got sparks and clicking of solenoid. Not sure if it was the clicking of a healthy solenoid. I assume there are no fuses in the big wire that goes from starter motor to battery.
Modified by vancouverbc at 4:50 AM 9/16/2004

[vancouverbc]

I tried connecting the small wire of the solenoid to the positive of battery and the solenoid is clicking. I get 12 volts to ground on the big wire that goes to solenoid with ignition off. I can only see one wire going into starter motor and it comes from solenoid. I hooked up a voltmeter between this wire and positive of battery and got 12 volts so i assume it is ground. I connected a voltmeter from ground to positve of battery and only got a .5 volt drop when i turned ignition switch to start. This starter is only a few months old.

[s13sr20chris]

that really sounds like a bad starter. if i am following you, you are getting 12v to the big starter wire from the solenoid. with only .5v drop from the starter terminal to the batt pos you have some serious juice going to the starter. thats good. only two poss left. bad starter and bad ground.

[vancouverbc]

I had a mechanic replace the starter and everything is good now. The mechanic said that the thief might have blown fuse and kept trying to start car and that burned out the starter.

Interestingly, the starter that was in the car had nine teeth and the one they put in had 8 teeth. They said that the old starter was not meshing right. I bought the old starter from canadian tire; a retail store. When I was pricing the old starter, one guy did mention that there were two types and you had to get the right one. Anyway, thanks for your help.

[s13sr20chris]

no prob bro!