Lots of sparks!

[pulleyman123]

My starter seemed weak, so I took off all the connections and scraped them and all the posts clean and soaked with WD-40, actually the WD-40 was first, then brushed. Anyway, I went to connect the battery again and as soon as I touch the negative to the battery post I get big sparks and the starter seems to turn but makes a lot of noise. I checked the key, it's in the off position, but I pulled it out just to make sure that wasn't the issue. I'm sure I put all the wires back in their correct location on the starter. What could be the issue. Also, if I hold the negative to the battery the sparks and starter do stop but the battery starts wining. I know that's not good so I only tried it once. Please help!
thanks

 

[nlain]

Re: Lots of sparks!

First recheck all of your connections, make sure that the positive cables are not shorted to the starter housing, check the wires on the main battery post, make sure they did not roll when tightening the nut and are now on the starter terminal powering the solenoid when you connect the cables to the battery. It sounds like you have a wire crossed or touching something it should not be touching. I am posting this thinking of the Delco starter and solenoid. Also, hopefully the WD40 did not soak into something and cause a short.

 

[pulleyman123]

Re: Lots of sparks!

If it is the wd-40 won't it eventually dry up. I'm off to work today, so do you think it will dry up by the time I look at it tomorrow? If not, I'll have to check for a short, but all the wires look good.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Lots of sparks!

wd40 should've been dry before you finished hooking it all back up.

you didn't mention the solenoid, but did you clean those terminals too? More opportunity for crossed wires there.

starter cable hook-up (right or wrong) shouldn't have any effect until the key is turned over to "start".

don't think I've ever heard a battery whine, but I imagine it would sound something like.... "I'm tired. I want to recharge NOW! Can I have a drink of water? ......"

what kind of motor is it?


oh, almost forgot...is it possible you reversed the cables on the battery? if so, you probably just smoked your rectifier......don't know why that would spin the starter, but it would have spun backwards, so it wouldn't have engaged the flywheel.....