connecting hand held starter switch?

How is a hand held starter switch connected? I have on from a garage sale I've never used and want to try it on a compression test. Its a squeeze switch with two wires with a spring clip on the end of each. The instructions say connect one clip to the battery cable on the starter and the other to the starter relay. I don't know what a starter relay looks like. The Haynes manual says to test the starter motor connect a jumper wire between the positive terminal of the battery and the the small (ignition switch) terminal on the starter solenoid and the starter motor should crank the engine. The Haynes manual also says to disconnect the negative battery terminal and wedge something in the car to depress the clutch. The starter switch instructions say disconnect the wire from the negative terminal of the ignition coil to prevent the engine from firing.

I've done a compression test before by tying the screw-in compression guage to a stick of wood wedged in the front of the engine compartment and watching through the space under the raised hood while turning the key in the ignition from the driver's seat. I'd like to try the hand held starter switch this time if I can figure out how to connect it.

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William R. Watt
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Clip the remote switch on the small wire on the solenoid and the very large wire on the solenoid.

Reply to
« Paul »

driver's seat.

This method does not disable fuel and ignition. Do NOT crank without disconnecting the ignition and fuel supply. O2 sensors and catalytic are sensitive to raw fuel and can become damage, not to mention the plugs.

Coil disable is possibly easier by grounding the secondary. Fuel supply shutoff are easily done by disconnecting injection computer fuse.

12 AWG wires or larger hand-held switches connect directly to the battery (+) and solenoid (+). Otherwise, connect to a starter relay.

Crudely, a starter relay looks like a cube octopus, (a cube with terminals at the bottom.) By disconnecting the starter solenoid terminal and starting, it's possible to locate the clicking relay by ear. Tapping on to the relay is another story.

If the numbers are within service range and uniform within 10% of each other, you most likely don't have badly worn parts. If the numbers are uniformly low on two cylinders next to each other you could have a blown head gasket. If the numbers are low on one or more cylinders that are not next to each other you most likely have worn/bent valves or worn/broken rings, often requiring a teardown.

*For manual gearbox.

-- Milo Meineka

Reply to
Indiån §ummer

the driver's seat.

yes. when cranking from the diver's seat I do not depress the clutch. that disables the ignition. wonder how to get around it when using the remote switch. will try disconnecting coil wire.

thanks for the replies.

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To be technically correct, one should ground the coil's secondary or disconnecting either the neg. or positive side, or both. Simply disconnecting coil high tension wire would be considered neglect.

You must depress the clutch to keep the car from lurching forward. If you use the hand-held starter switch, you do not need to disconnect the coil, but would require wedging something in the car to depress the clutch.

-- Milo

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Indiån §ummer

thank you. using the advice posted here I tried the switch on Friday and it worked fine. to isolate the expensive ignition module in the distributor, just in case, I disconnected the ignition system by removing the wires from the primary negative post on the coil. I put the manual transmission in neutral. Connecting the leads to the terminals on the starter and solenoid bypassed the clutch so did not have to depress.

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