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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - starter solenoid - coil connections

Two things oh worldly wise nerds :)

Fitted a new starter motor at the weekend, as i was getting the loud click, which i always though meant new starter M. straight forward install, but nothing changed, still a loud click. Put a battery straight to the starter, and it spun over as it should.

So, assume the solenoid is the baddy on this occasion, but is it really ? after all it sounds like its doing its thing.....


Secondly, pulled the dizzy out a while ago to refit the new side entry cap, having disconnected the red and black wires from the coil so i could clean the whole thing up, i made note of a wire connected to the positive side of the coil from the original loom what i should have done is take a photo, but i didn't !


with the red and black connected, should the others just be redundant ? the others being a white black and a white (from memory)
P Bentley

Maybe the battery in the car is flat--??

Is your car neg. earth-? if so---
I take it you have some form of contactless ign system with a red and a black wire coming from the distributor to the coil
These would be red to pos on coil black to neg on coil and the white from the original loom to pos as well--the white with a black tracer is your old dist to coil wire that was used with points and is not needed--there would be the other end of it dangling near the dizzy as well

If you still have points I don't know what the red/black wires are
William Revit

If your solenoid is clicking but the motor isn't spinning, it sounds like you may have burnt contacts within the solenoid.

You could try jumping across the two solenoid terminals - carefully. That should prove that the rest of the wiring etc., is OK.

With regard to the coil connections, without knowing what sort of ignition system you have, I am only guessing. I would think that you still need the white wire at the coil, as that will be providing power, not only to the coil, but also your electronics. If there is only one white/black, that would have originally connected the coil to the dissy, so should be redundant.

Edit: Willy beat me by 8 seconds.
Dave O'Neill 2

(ETA: Dave & willy posted whilst I was typing)

For future checks, (AFAIK) click can be battery or solenoid, you've eliminated battery.

Check all the connections on the solenoid are all clean, secure and protected and that the solenoid has a good earth to car body.

Always disconnect the battery post connections when dealing with especially theses large power supplies.

On my 1973 the white wire goes on the positive connection of the coil and white/black the negative connection on the coil.

Sounds like you might have a electronic igniter(?).

Good idea to take a photo before you start the work, not that I often remember to, but do assume that everything in your car is fully as it should do also do cross reference checks.

The Driver's Handbook has a wiring diagram of course.
Nigel Atkins

Having read Willy's post now I see I misread the original post, you've not eliminated the battery if it wasn't the one you used to test the starter.

What ever the electric issues are you always want a good battery in good condition and state of charge and good clean, secure and protected electric connections all round to make problem solving easier and not more difficult. Often a battery in poor condition or state of charge and/or poor electric connections can be the problem or contributing greatly to it.

I've known others to change parts only to find it was the battery holding every thing back or the cause.
Nigel Atkins

thanks gents. . . . the battery was fully charged, i even deputised another, and got the same results. So it looks like the solenoid is the issue.
The white wire connection makes sense, and although i think its a ignitor kit on my set up, as i type this i am not 100% sure.
New solenoid ordered, And this time i did remember to take a pic for the easy fitting of the various connections.
P Bentley

In the past I've had starting issues when the engine earth strap was damaged
Nick Anderson

This thread was discussed on 06/08/2018

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