You are kidding right? If not you may want to connect with the guy wanting an oil filter that will give him more MPG. You may be related....I know, cut him some slack......

 

Starter is a dry sump system lubricated by the primary..

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong:

Assuming both battery lugs are tight and clean, has anyone tried to measure residual voltage between the battery (or tender connections) and the engine block when the starter motor engages ?

A poor engine-to-ground connection will make the polarity of the engine block become "temporarily" positive (+) as the starter motor relay is activated and allows to draw too much current through the resistive engine-to-ground connection.

If the positive lead is "open", the starter motor will simply not turn but the relay can be activated.

 

If the ground connection is poor, it is simply a poor electrical connection.

 

You're wrong. But if it's loose, it can heat up the connection.

 

The example shows 10 V on the battery and 6 V across the starter. The missing 4 V are converted into heat in one or more connections.

I was proposing to put a voltmeter between battery and engine block (which is equivalent to starter ground).
In the example shown on the video I would measure 4V instead of 0V with a perfect connection.
Since most of us use battery tenders and have clean battery connections, this could be a two minutes diagnostic

 

there are sealed "lifetime" bearings in the starter.

they can be replaced if they go bad, which may happen but is unlikely.

the response up above was an attempt at humor.


Expat, a quick check for voltage drop is a part of diagnosis.
Good that you brought it up.

on many early rubbermounts, there is a ground strap between the inner primary and frame- if that failed or the bolt fell out...the clutch cable would become the new ground...sometimes leading to the cable covering melting, or smoke coming out of it.



Mike

 

Let me back up, if you are saying what Mr Wizard shows in his video, all is well since he is rising voltage drop across the battery to a much higher level to separate levels. When you termed negative to positive, thru me. Still does since your term is not exactly what he is showing. He is just splitting the different circuits out to show difference voltage drops. I may have missed it but he refers to the meter on the posts for voltage checks. I isolate wire by checking posts and terminals when looking for wire problems. The only way you can have polarity switch in DC in my mind is have AC mixed in it. You can actually get this with a bad voltage regulator and under certain conditions with a diode not totally shorted out letting AC come thru from the 3 phase AC alternator stator in the primary.

 

When you expect a 0V reading across two points and get +4V instead, you are measuring a resistive path where the potential difference can occur.
When you see AC voltage or AC modulation in a DC circuit this means the AC source is less resistive or "stiffer" than the DC circuit that is being perturbated.
If a single diode (rectifier) inside the voltage regulator becomes short circuited you will see the AC pulse across the most resistive component in the circuit.
The only idea behind my post was to inform the younger folks that there are ways to preserve our earnings. If they read this thread they may have learned something and the OP has a partial answer to his query.

 

Just tell them it will cause hair to grow on their palms...That's what they told me.