loose black connection on solenoid?

[omodos]

Hello, I am checking the connections on my starter as been having some slow statrup issues (loooooooong story)please can someone let me know the purpose of the black cable shown in the pic?it has play in it maximum 5mm either way in direction of arrows  as in pic when i try by pulling it by hand,what could the consequences be? could I just crimp or apply some pressure with small pliers to make it a tighter fit to what I guess is a spade connector under the black sheath/heatshrink? it seems loose but wont come off and I dont want to force it off......thanks

PS Just looked on some bmw m3 site , could it be the solenoid trigger wire? or ignition wire?

[X5Sport]

It's just the protective cover over that cable that is moving.  If all the connectors are tight then job done on that end of the system.

You have an earth sable to the engine, a +ve feed to the starter (not an alternator cable though it may for circuit purposes be tied to the same point as the battery cable, and as you said, a solenoid energising cable. 

When the solenoid is energised by you turning the key all the way, it pulls a bar (armature) into the solenoid coil and on the other end of that bar is a fork (or similar device) which forces the starter gear against the flywheel so that the starter engages and spins the engine over. 

The solenoid also has a built in switch that connects the +ve starter feed to the electric motor.  As soon as you let go of the key a spring behind the armature pushes the fork back which pulls the gear out of the flywheel and places the solenoid armature to its rest position again.

A separate earth is provided to provide a good electrical bond between starter and engine to ensure peak efficiency for the starter & solenoid.

It all looks clean too.  No sign of corrosion which might have caused issues.

Richard

[Horizon]

If your battery is good, the connections are good it must be the starter motor, there not that expensive just get a new one and all will be good, don't over think things, it's not that complicated, the battery lead goes to one terminal, the starter feed goes from the other terminal the smaller wire is the selenoid trigger wire, the only other thing to check is the earth strap that goes from the body to the engine.
If they are all good it's got to be the starter.

[X5Sport]

A Denso label also indicates it's a Magnetti-Marelli starter as the MS28000-0660 Number matches their starter not a Bosch.

[omodos]

thanks fellas with all the replies...especially knwoing that 250-300amps no higher is the draw of the starter motor on crank

yup surprisingly clean down there apart from dust n soot.....

ok So Denso is really magenti merlli?..... diys (i wont attempt it) but you get at it from underneath, does the protective plate need to be removed and new bolts/nuts holding it up used on replacing as mentioned on xoutpost? the tis only mentions the rear splash gaurd being removed to get access

[Horizon]

[quote="X5Sport"]
A Denso label also indicates it's a Magnetti-Marelli starter as the MS28000-0660 Number matches their starter not a Bosch.
[/quote]

The made in Italy should ring alarm bells

[omodos]

[quote="Horizon"]
[quote="X5Sport"]
A Denso label also indicates it's a Magnetti-Marelli starter as the MS28000-0660 Number matches their starter not a Bosch.
[/quote]

The made in Italy should ring alarm bells
[/quote]

come on Horizon some good things have come out of Italy(dont say pizza and armani).....alas started her up today no change still the slowish fire up and following readouts:

12.94v at the jump points before startup-
hits low of  9.44v when cranking over (considering my battery was tested and good, this 9.44v is low- whether or not the fact that the starter is pullng too much amps at start and impacting this fgure I have no idea)
and up to 14.33v when idling


anyway another quick one, would it be cause for concern that on reconnecting the battery +ve first then -ve I get no spark as attach the cable on the terminal post? i am sure on our e46 when i did this the battery always sparks when the cable touches as you are in the process of attaching it.....

[sleepyfolk]

Sounds like alternator is shoving out a good charging voltage and battery is showing a fully charged voltage, personally I would have thought that sort of voltage drop was excessive. I'd want to get a reading for the starter current draw before putting a new battery in and potentially wrecking that one as well.

[omodos]

Sleepyfolk thanks, attached are images of the siginificant clamp meter readings as I had it wrapped around one of the battery cables when starting (and readings taken we are talking in the space of 3-4seconds) is this a good enough way to get current draw or would the starter have to be removed to do this?

it hit 0L which I guess is overload (as mentioned i set the clamp amp to 400a instead of a thousand -stupid of me, guy at garage had no idea what i was doing but he let me borrow clamp ) then it  displays 392amps then tails back down to 'normal' levels....I guess it is drawing in excess of 400a on startup

did this test twice same readings-unfortunately despite having charged the battery before this start draw test, i had to start the x5 in order to drive down to the garage, so dunno how this would impact results...either way my sleep mode drain is 50ma tad high but ok....I dunno would a bad engine ground connection lead to the starter drawing more than it should?

[X5Sport]

No attachment.

50 mA is fine.  Nothing to worry about.

Current clamp ought to be nearer the starter, but as it is the same cable from the battery it will only show a minor difference that is not worth the effort of getting it onto the battery cable at the starter.

Richard

[omodos]

ta Richard....really quite reluctant to take to the auto electricians, had an issue a few weeks ago whereby i reset the immobilizer code and saved it to a setting i didnt make a note of though :blink:! got back in car after this and it wouldnt start! it was asking for CODE----, fix was on page 88 of the owners handbbok,BUT the  bmw dealer here told me to get the car on a platform and dropped off to them for 'recoding', autoelectrician guy told me to try code 0000 and if that didnt work to get it dropped off at his garage too! see why i am a tad concerned?


ps cant seem to be able to save any more pics in this post sorry