so the other night at my girlfriend's apt i went to leave but the car wouldnt start..i came back about 4 hours later and it fired right up (i immediately think starter)

i pulled the starter out on monday, took it to a local auto electric shop and he replaced the brushes (supposedly were shot). i got everything back in and connected (+12v lead and solenoid signal), airbox back on, went to fire it up and got nothing...just sounds like the solenoid is spinning.

thinking i may have missed a step, i tore everything back down, took the starter out, and went back over everything...nothing

anyone know what could be the problem? car is a 2000

 

Sounds like you improperly assembled the starter and it is spinning without engaging. You should remove and check it out of the car: the solenoid should be able to engage starter gear when you apply battery voltage to it.

 

ok well i think i located the issue, and its a SOB

there is a tiny loom of wires (red, blue, and yellow), that run right by the starter and go into a red sensor plug in

i found a chunk of blue and yellow sitting on the block, missing from this loom

anyone know by chance what this set of wires is or runs to? i really dont think i'll be able to re-attach

thanks

 

I vaguely recall something like that - when I was installing mine I didn't push aside some wires going near the starter and it cut them off when I was tightening IIRC. I don't remember what those wire(s) were but I do remember that after finding the problem the fix was quite trivial - find the hanging piece in that area, attach it to where it used to go , insulate them from each other and you should be good to go. Picture probably would get you better responses.

 

yeah, i'll try to take a pic...im going to have a buddy come over tomorrow evening and sauder(sp) them together once we get them cut/stripped

 

Just don't forget to insulate them from each other. Check your fuses after this as well, one might be blown.

 

for sure...either way, these wires probably should be re-connected