Ford 2000 Selenoid

[jc4598]

I have a 1968 Ford 2000 3cyl. diesel tractor. I suspect the selenoid to be bad so I have taken the starter off the tractor. Is there a way I can check the selenoid with a volt ohm meter to see if it working or not?..It is a 5" starter.
 

[jc4598]

I forgot to say that the selenoid is on top of the starter.
 

[JMOR]

Not much of a test, actually. Why not leave it on starter, connect it to a battery & apply signal power to small terminal and see if it pulls in & if it has contact between the 2 large terminals, then it will spin motor & push gear out.
 

[old]

Pretty hard to test a solenoid since all it is, is a sealed relay that either works or does not work. If it is like many ford solenoids there should be 2 big posts one of which goes to the battery cable and the other to the starter motor stud. You can test the starter with a big battery charger or a battery by hooking up jumper cables 1 to - on the battery and the other to the stud on the starter. If the starter spins then but did not on the tractor the solenoid may well be bad. By the way hold tight to the starter if you try to test it because it can/will jump around
 

[jc4598]

I have a starter/charger and hooked it up as you said tne it kicked in fine .Activated the gear so now that I see the selenoid is good I guess the only thing is the voltage regulator...can it be checked??...as you can tell I'm new to this one....

Thanks JMOR
 

[jc4598]

Thanks old...that's what I did and the gear engaged as it should......Regulator??
 

[old]

Regulator no that is part of the charging system and does not play a part in the starting system. Solenoid very likely
 

[mhb@ufe]

The best way to test it is as JMOR suggested. The solenoid is an electro magnet with a plunger in the center that connects to an arm on one end to engage the bendix and the other end has a large copper washer that contacts the two lugs inside the solenoid. If when you do the test, the bendix throws out and the starter spins your problem is somewhere else. If the bendix engages but the starter doesn't spin the copper washer is not making contact with the lugs, often due to arcing. If nothing happens the electro magnet has an open circuit. Some of the early ones could be taken apart and you could clean the contacts and reassemble to get more life out of them.

Mark
 

[RodinNS]

Basically... all you do with those things is make sure that all of the connections are clean on the solenoid and the starter motor and make sure you have known good cables.
What I often do is drop the starter on the ground and hook it to a set of booster cables... then jump across the terminals while you hold the starter down with your foot. See if it works. If it doesn't work try hooking the pos cable directly to the starter motor terminal and see if the starter spins up. If it does... you've likely got a bad solenoid. More like bad internal contacts in it.
If you're real adventerous you can melt the solder off the terminals on the cap and take the switch apart, clean the terminals and put it back together. Otherwise you buy a new switch.

Rod
 

[old]

Drop the starter. That is hard on the starter and hard on the toes. LOL I think I would say I set the starer in the ground since some might just do as you said and end up with a broken starter.
 

[jc4598]

As I said I put 55 amps to the selenoid and it kicked the gear in but it didn't spin the gear, it just threw it out to engage the flywheel. IS 55 amps enough to make the gear on the starter spin and if so , by it not spinning is it still the selenoid.
 

[mhb@ufe]

Yes, It is not making contact inside.

Mark
 

[mhb@ufe]

I was to quick to say yes, it could be the starter itself. try connecting your positive cable to the lower lug on the solenoid and see if the starter spins.

Mark
 

[RodinNS]

As long as he doesn't drop it on the switch it won't hurt the Lucas... but yes... set it on the ground.

Rod
 

[jc4598]

Mark. I connected like you said to and the starter does spin