My wife's 94 Integra LS auto did not want to start for us over the weekend. Everytime the key was turned, I heard a loud, metallic click (bang) near the starter. I tried the bang-on-it-with-a-hammer method. No luck. I replaced the battery, and that didn't help. Then I checked all the electrical connections, and no help either. Finally, I took out the starter (I found a good how-to using search). I took it to Auto-Zone, as was recommended in other posts. The guy hooked it up, and it worked fine! I put the starter back in, hooked up the wires, reconnected the battery, and it works fine now.

My question is what does the small wire (with the spade type connector) do? There are only two wires going to the starter - The thick + power cable that bolts to the starter and the other end goes right to the + terminal on the battery. The other wire is thinner guage, and has a spade terminal and rubber boot that plugs into the starter as well. Does anyone know what this does? I think this wire might have been loose...could this wire being loose prevented the starter from working?

I'm sorry, I don't have a manual, but I'm looking to get one soon. TIA for your help.

 

The smaller wire gets a ground signal to trigger it to start. I had a problem before where the spade connector got really oxidized and it had trouble starting, it basically was not getting full voltage/amperage so it acted like a dead battery.

 

Cool. The connector is very loose, the only thing holding it on is the rubber boot. I'm going to take a pair of pliers and crimp on side a bit, so when I slide it back on it's tighter and not so loose.

My wife works in a bad area so I don't want her to get stranded with a car that won't start!

Thanks for the quick reply!!!

 

BTW, this forum rocks. I have 2 VWs, and hang out mostly on VWvortex. I can ask a question here and not get 7 replies about stupid crap. Just a straight-up answer. It's very refreshing. VWvortex is pretty much useless, except for the classified ads.

 

BTW, on the spade connector there is usually a middle section that you can crimp down and it will kind of lock onto the male terminal better. look at this pic:
http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~stanj/A...rror/parts.jpg and look at the spade connector on the right. See the middle piece with the little dot? Crimp just that section down with needle nose or wire cutters or whatever you have and it will hold better.