Frying Starter Relays

I have fried two starter relays tonight. The engine would turn over 3 or 4 times then just click... I think i have narrowed it down to the starter relay: i tested them by testing continuity on the two nuts when holding down the start button-neither showed continuity after briefly running.

What could be causing this? let me know if you have ideas of things to check
 

naticen

Site Supporter
Location
wilmington, nc
You can't check continuity with ohms when power is involved. Check voltage drop.

But yeah, dropping voltage somewhere causes heat and destroys electronics. Such as a short in your starter as mentioned.
 

JetManiac

Stoked
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Vendor Account
Location
orlando
I have fried two starter relays tonight. The engine would turn over 3 or 4 times then just click... I think i have narrowed it down to the starter relay: i tested them by testing continuity on the two nuts when holding down the start button-neither showed continuity after briefly running.

What could be causing this? let me know if you have ideas of things to check

A starter going bad, poor (corroded or loose) connections, low battery voltage/bad battery, bad ground/power cables will all cause excessive heat when cranking and can fry a solenoid (even new oem) in a hurry. You need to go through your starting system well before frying anymore relays.
 
Thanks for the advice- i will go through the whole starting system... i cannot afford to keep burning them out.

Both were OEM, one was new...

Could it be anything in the CDI/Stator/Rectifier? not sure how those could play into the starting system

Thanks!
 

OCD Solutions

Original, Clean and Dependable Solutions
Location
Rentz, GA
The only components involved in this scenario are the starter, solenoid, battery and the 3 cables (battery ground, battery to ebox and ebox to starter).

As mentioned in the above posts, go through each of these components and check for damage, corrosion, or general condition. Make sure all connections are clean and tight.


Some common culprits are;
Worn or seized brushes in the starter,
Seized front bearing in the starter,
Seized bendix
Corroded connections on cabling
Corroded Aftermarket cables made with copper wire instead of tinned copper wire.
Battery itself starting to fail.

Having said all that, the common culprits mentioned above tend to manifest in an engine that is slow to crank or a battery that appears to always be discharged. This is due to the fact that they usually restrict power available to the starter via high resistance. The scenario you are describing sounds like the opposite, too much load. This to me sounds more like a short or heavy amp draw above what the solenoid is rated for.

I think you are looking for something that is physically restricting the starter from turning like a bad bendix, seized or partially siezed engine, hydrolock, something stuck in the pump etc.

I could be wrong but it's worth checking out and simple enough to do. Just pull the plugs and turn the engine over by hand.
 
The only components involved in this scenario are the starter, solenoid, battery and the 3 cables (battery ground, battery to ebox and ebox to starter).

As mentioned in the above posts, go through each of these components and check for damage, corrosion, or general condition. Make sure all connections are clean and tight.


Some common culprits are;
Worn or seized brushes in the starter,
Seized front bearing in the starter,
Seized bendix
Corroded connections on cabling
Corroded Aftermarket cables made with copper wire instead of tinned copper wire.
Battery itself starting to fail.

Having said all that, the common culprits mentioned above tend to manifest in an engine that is slow to crank or a battery that appears to always be discharged. This is due to the fact that they usually restrict power available to the starter via high resistance. The scenario you are describing sounds like the opposite, too much load. This to me sounds more like a short or heavy amp draw above what the solenoid is rated for.

I think you are looking for something that is physically restricting the starter from turning like a bad bendix, seized or partially siezed engine, hydrolock, something stuck in the pump etc.

I could be wrong but it's worth checking out and simple enough to do. Just pull the plugs and turn the engine over by hand.

Thanks- there are two things that come to mind. It is a brand new engine and it turns over easily without the plugs so that is not a concern. It could be a bad starter- i was running low compression before the rebuild ~130 and now i have a fresh build with 35cc domes... Much higher load and the starter is the original from my '92 SN. It could also be a weak battery- this would be the 4th season on it and it was starting to struggle last season. I was planning to buy a new one anyways
 
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