96 GTI Starter or Solenoid

[fabriccarolina]

This is my 1st post and I love this site. I bought two 96gti's 3 months ago and have been trying to bring them up to date. My latest problem has me a bit stumped. Two weeks ago it started cranking weakly (Like a weak battery) and the last trip out it finally stopped turning the motor over. Switched batterys from the other ski, no change. Grey box with Solenoid box just clicks. Removed starter and it was clean, hooked it to my battery out of the ski and it seemed to spin just fine. Then hooked it back to my ski and got same clicks form the grey box. Dug into the gray box and crossed the solenoid with a screwdriver and the starter is still dead as before. I'm, not an expert, but I got out the trusty multimeter and got 12.2v at the solenoid on both sides when I hit the start button. Also got 12v at the end of the starter cable(Not connected to the starter at the time). Then I got my jumper cable and went from the + battery post directly to the starter and it turned the motor for about one second. Now its dead again, nothing from the starter. Any ideas would be appreciated. :banghead:
John

 

[kustomkarl]

Check the ground from the battery to the starter, as it might just be corroded enough not to allow it to start.

Karl

 

[fabriccarolina]

Karl,
Thats one of the things I did was wirebrush all of the cables connecting to the starter and coming off of the battery.
John

 

[fabriccarolina]

I checked and my ground is clean at the battery and at the starter, as well as red wire at starter. I tried to start it again tonight and got the same click. I did notice that when I press the stop/start button that the battery light on the gage would turn red when the button is pressed(It may do this all the time, but I could see it at night). Multimeter registered 12.30 on the battery tonight. I even pulled the plugs the other day and rotated the motor to make sure it turned as it should. Any thoughts?

 

[seadoosnipe]

Starter is bad.......

The starter is bad. When you have a starter that is turning over the motor real slow, you may take out the plugs and find that it will turn it over fast. That is because there is no torque ont the starter.

The starter is not just an electric motor. It has to provide a great amount of torque ont he flywheel to overcome the compression of the cylinders. Bench testing it says it spins, but loading it up, it won't. Starter is bad.

You say you have two, take the starter from the other one you know to be good and change it out............I bet it's the starter.:cheers:

 

[fabriccarolina]

I'll check it out and let you know what happens.
Thanks!