Starter on engine stand, should be easy

[90TSIAWD]

Alright, so I have the VH on the engine stand and want to do a compression test while it's out of the car. I've done this with lots of other motors and never had an issue. This particular motor though when I hook up the jumper cables and push button starter switch (the ones for testing, I'm sure you've all seen them) the starter spins but does not push out to engauge the flex plate... any ideas? I tried jumping the pins on the inhibitor (probably park/neutral safety switch) and still no dice.

Current setup, ground jumper cable to bellhousingstarter positive battery lead on positive bat terminalstarter switch jumping terminals on solenoid when button is pressed

Thanks in advance, Rob

[SuperHatch]

Alright, so I have the VH on the engine stand and want to do a compression test while it's out of the car. I've done this with lots of other motors and never had an issue. This particular motor though when I hook up the jumper cables and push button starter switch (the ones for testing, I'm sure you've all seen them) the starter spins but does not push out to engauge the flex plate... any ideas? I tried jumping the pins on the inhibitor (probably park/neutral safety switch) and still no dice.

Current setup, ground jumper cable to bellhousingstarter positive battery lead on positive bat terminalstarter switch jumping terminals on solenoid when button is pressed

Thanks in advance, Rob

I've done exactly what you've said and had no problems. Try tapping the starter with a hammer, you might have a bad starter with a stuck solenoid.

[90TSIAWD]

So I actually got it working about 30 minutes after I made this thread but then had to go to work and forgot about deleting it. Thanks for the reply S. I ended up just putting the positive lead to the wire that would normally go to the starter relay and that worked, but it did strike me as strange because I've done the other setup on several engines with no problems.