MM951

OK, I had starter issues recently. Orginal one died (only made a hum noise) and replaced it with a used one. The replacement worked fine but died after a few days.

I bought a starter rebuild kit and rebuilt the starter and got it checked at autozone. They say it works fine. I also recently replaced all the battery/ground cables/terminals throughout the car. Battery is about a month and a half old

I still only get a "hum" when I turn the key. When I get under the car and jumper the terminals with a screw driver , I get a "click" and hear the fuel pump run and the turbo waterpump run after.

When the first starter failed , nothing happened when I jumpered the terminals. Same when the replacement failed. Now I'm getting the hum with the rebuilt orginal (that tests OK)

anyone have any suggestions?

J Berk

weird...if you replaced all the cables...is that when the problem began? If you had not said you crawled under the car and jumped the terminals, I'd say starter switch.....

But then again...you're only hearing a click when you jump the terminals.....something else must be going on....either mis-wired or a bad connection is my guess.

xsboost90

get a 24mm socket and see if the motor turns manually.

J Berk

Dan...if you're thinking that....well....better check just to be sure!

marky522

I would check your wiring, make sure you have a constant 12V at the large lug, and with the small lug disconnected check for 12v there with the ign turned. If both of these check out, it could only be a bad starter, or you have the wires connected to it wrong.

Mark

AznDrgn

Easily overlooked but do you have a good ground to the block?

F18Rep

Just thinking.... I think you're saying the solenoid is not throwing. Side note: I have found that a rebuilt starter (from places like autozone) do not necesarily come with a new solenoid. Its suspicious that you would have two solenoids go bad though and the ground suggesion is, I think , a good starting point (ar). Beyond that I guess I would drill those solenoid mounting screws (I think you mentioned that they were no longer removable in an earlier post) and get a good peek for rust or some other kind of restriction.
If worst comes to worst a VW solenoid will work with a small modfication to one of the wires - some info here. The VW solenoid costs like $50 bucks so not eeezacly a great idea....bruce

xsboost90

bad ground to the block is a good call. Try putting a jumper cable on the block somewhere then to the battery ground just to see.

oreo5665

Would the fuel pump run with a bad ground if he is jumping the terminals?

AznDrgn

Should run fine, fuel pump pulls power off of the fuse panel through the DME relay and has very low amperage draw compared to the starter.

wesmc3

I'm sure you checked this, but have you tried turning it over while jump starting it. I had this happen in my '86 last week. seemed to have a good charge, no reason to be down, didn't "click" like a low batt usually does, hooked up the charger and she turned right over.

AX993

Hi Mike,
I'm no expert, but maybe try a different/ known-to-be-good DME relay, if nothing else to just rule it out.
When I've had starter problems it always happens when the car was at operating temp. I believe that these starters have a known failure mode where as they will bind internally when hot, but still work when cold .
Good Luck,
Glenn '88 944S

MM951

Thanks for the advice guys

I installed the starter from my N/A the other day.
I think what is killing my starters is the fact its running after the car starts... I assume thats a wiring problem? When I bench test the starters they work normally.. any ideas on what would prevent them from dis engaging the flywheel?

Today I will be replacing the entire starter harness with a new (used, but very clean one) one in case I made a mistake when I made a new harness.

Moe

This may be something worth checking... I thought I had Starter Issues a couple years ago... Start sometimes, sometimes not, then one day it started and would not shut off with engine running... Turn Key to "Off", Starter kept on trying to turn motor over... Disconnected the Neg. Cable to stop it...

Replaced the Ignition Switch... (the electrical part) What a PITA... but that solved the "problem"... I took out the driver's seat...

billthe3

If the wiring is messed up it could be keeping the solenoid powered which would not allow the motor to turn off.

Did you rebuild the solenoid? It sounds like that could be the issue.