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Can anyone tell me the, probably, obvious mistake I have made with putting my starter on my MK2 Cortina. I have the battery lead on the solenoid and have connected the two remaining leads together and attached to the solenoid. The problem I am getting is that the car goes to start and when I turn the ignition key back to normal position it dies. Not sure what I've done, maybe my connection of the two wires together would do this? What would cause this? Thanks

Lee,

There should be a battery wire connected to the large terminal on the solenoid battery cable side. That wire supplies power to the system. Pete

Yea I have that one Pete and I connected the other two together as you informed me but it just dies when I let go of the key. Checked my connection and it seems good. Is there a way to test what I have wrong? I have a good meter.

With the ignition turned on, check if there is 12v on the large terminal wire. Does your model have the voltage regulator BTW ?

12 volts at the solenoid with ignition. Is this the voltage regulator?

Ok. Check that the power wire goes to that unit. That maybe an non OEM external voltage regulator used with an Alternator. If it is a regulator it will have a diode inside. The diode regulates the output of the Alternator to 13.5 to 14.2 volts. If the diode is bad the alternator won't charge the battery. Let me know and we'll continue.

Ok so there is a wire running from the solenoid terminal with the battery positive on it to this box. I get 13.3 volts here which is the same as when I measure across the battery

so this is my solenoid connection just to make sure I have that correct

This doesn't seem right, when I have the ignition on and I measure from the positive side of the coil to ground I get 1.8 volts?

Bad weather...good time to do this.

So 1.8v at the ignition coil. Disconnect the wire to the negative side of the coil. Still 1.8v ?

Still 1.8 v

There is a heavy voltage drop in the system ( not a shorted coil ).
Are you still reading 1.8v at the wire ( disconnected to the positive side of coil ),
When you trace this wire back straight ( not spliced to other wires or to the voltage regulator first )to the ignition switch are there other wires connected to that terminal ?
Once you locate that wire to the ignition switch check for 12v.

Sorry, yes I still get 1.8 v with the negative wire removed. There are 2 yellow and white wires going to the positive side of the coil. Just having my supper and I'll check voltage, appreciate your help Pete, sorry to be a pain. If you're busy leave it until tomorrow.

Ok so one yellow and white wire from the positive side of the coil goes to the inside of the car and I get 1.7 volts, the other one goes to the solenoid, it's the one that did have its own spade connection on my old starter but is now joined with a red and white wire and connected to the solenoid, I get 1.8 volts here as well but 12 volts when I touch the connector that this wire goes to on the solenoid.

Now that you have access to the ign switch. Start by disconnecting the two wires that were used to activate the solenoid ( you want to eliminate the small terminal wire all together). Connect the wire that goes directly to the solenoid to the single terminal of the ignition switch used for activating the solenoid. ( larger of the two spaded wires ). That same wire connects directly to the ign switch starter terminal. No other wires should be connected to it.
Try test activating the starter by turning the key to start. Stop.
Turn on the ign and check for 12v at the coil.