I'm having trouble with this 95 Cavalier that I changed the engine in. It has 2.3 5 spd. The starter acts fine until I crank on the engine and once the engine starts the starter keeps going. Turn the ignition off and the starter keeps cranking the engine over until I disconnect the battery. A few hours later i can hook the battery back up and the starter doesn't run untill I crank on it for a bit and gets warm or hot again and it does the same thing over. I thought it was a bad starter so I just changed it with another used one I had laying around. Well this other starter does the exact same thing. If you crank on it for a couple seconds it won't act up but this engine is a little hard to start and after about 5-10 seconds of cranking it acts up. As for the wiring, I have the big positive wiring on the solonoid stud and there is a smaller wire with a big eyelet on that stud. On the other terminal there is two wires with small eyelets on it. I don't think I have the wiring messed up but its possible. I just think its odd for two starters to act this way only after getting hot. Anyone have any suggestions?

Check this recall:-

http://www.automallusa.net/1995/chevrolet/cavalier/recalls.html

Even with the Starter recall there should only be one wire on the small stud, as far as I know. This is the wire, from either the Igntion switch or the recall intoduced relay, to energise the starter solenoid during cranking.

Having said that,it the recall was introduced to overcome problems similar to the ones you are having. The ignition switch and the wire to the solenoid oerheats and the wire or/and ignition switch could be damaged.

Try disconnecting BOTH the two wires with the small eyelets on them, seperate them and avoid grounding them.

Then test each one in turn to establish which one is hot with the ignition switch to "Crank".

If you find only one wire is hot at crank , this is the only one you should connect to the small stud on the starter solenoid(My '93 2.2 wire is purple)


Post back the results if it's not fixed


Alont

Thanks for that link. That does sound alot like the problem i'm having. This car broke down not much after that recall came out so i'm sure it never had it done. What made me think its not the ignition switch though is I have to push in the clutch to start but once the starter messes up it doesn't matter if the clutch is pushed in or out. Looking at a wiring diagram it appears power goes from the ignition switch to the clutch switch to the starter. I would think that even if the switchs contacts stuck together the clutch switch would break continuity.

I'm going to go work on the car tonight, I'll report what I find out.

I went to work on this car tonight and found that it does have the recall relay installed. The purple wire is spliced to a new purple wire on the add on harness that runs to the relay thats on the intake manifold. From the relay is a black and red wire that I had on the small terminal of the starter. I disconnected them and the black wire has power when you hit the key. Hooked it back up only and it wouldn't crank. The red wire has to be on the terminal too I found. I hooked it back up the way I had it and started the engine and the starter acted up again. I disconnected the relay on the manifold and the starter quit. I think the relay is bad.

Thanks again for the link because I had no clue about the recall. I was going by a wiring diagram in a Haynes manual which is not updated for the recall.

This is how it should be wired--I hope it posts as I typed it. I think the 86 to Ground wire is the one you have misconnected-maybe!?



Key to crank--Clutch sw---Ppl---Splice----New Ppl----85 ^^^^^^^^relay coil^^^^----86----Ground



Battery +ve-----Large Solenoid stud--------30---closed contacts when relay energised-----87---small stud on starter solenoid.

So, essentially ,the current drawn by the starter solenoid is now directly from battery +ve and not through the ignition switch and the Purple wire. The only currunt through the Purple wire and the Ignition switch is the relatively low amps needed by the introduced relay's coil.

There has been trouble from these added relays, some were not waterproofed properly, John Lenko once had a starting system with a mind of it's own


Hope it helps


Alont

Ok thanks, The black wire needs to go to ground then. I was wondering about that. The black and the red are the same length so i figured they both went to the starter. I think the black wire might reach the little stud by the transmision bellhousing.

Bumping for anymore answers.

I just got the car back from other repairs and now my starter is randomly trying to engage with the car running, only in park. Recall appears to have been done.