Topic: purple wire from starter???
in Forum: C3 Electrical
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Today I am crawling under the car and I find a 12ga purple wire with a female spade end on it. Where does it hook up? I looked around but did not find a place to plug in. This wire is from the starter harness loom.
Thanks Dennis B.

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The purple wire is usually going to the "S" terminal that will activate the starter, and start the car. It's not usually a spade, but an eyelet connector.
kstyer 2008-06-19 18:03:29
If the car does crank right now, what is connected to the terminal? What color?
Perhaps the purple wire had a problem, and has been replaced. The spade still confuses me. Can you supply a few more details?
You might test for power on the wire with the key off, key on, and when trying to crank, and see what happens. Let me know and we will try to track it down. A picture may help.

It comes out of the loom for the starter wires. This is a brand new wire harness and the starter is a new mini high torque. I can't power up and test as I am still putting things back in place.
I had someone else rebuild the engine and for some reason he decided o stop working on the car and I had to pick it up and tow it home and now I have to figure out what was and was not done to the engine. All the valve cover bolts are loose, a paper clip instead of a cotter pin, and the list goes on.


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Hmmm...that looks like a barrel connector. Is it round?
The purple wire is for the "Start" signal to the solenoid, the "S" terminal on normal solenoids, but I'm not sure on the mini-starter.
At first glance, that looks more like a vacuum line than a wire...
Perhaps the harness maker put that terminal on there because the harness was meant for a specific(odd-ball) starter solenoid?
Either way, if it is actually the "Start" wire, all you need to do is cut off that terminal, and crimp/solder on one that will fit your solenoid.
The purple wire is for the "Start" signal to the solenoid, the "S" terminal on normal solenoids, but I'm not sure on the mini-starter.
At first glance, that looks more like a vacuum line than a wire...


Perhaps the harness maker put that terminal on there because the harness was meant for a specific(odd-ball) starter solenoid?
Either way, if it is actually the "Start" wire, all you need to do is cut off that terminal, and crimp/solder on one that will fit your solenoid.

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Is there a newer looking red wire going to the solenoid? Maybe they replaced with a new ignition source...
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Ok it looks like this but a little wider. I will look again tomorrow if I am up to it. Having a broken molar pulled at 9am.
I will probally just cut the end off and put it on the S terminal. That would be most logical (Spock).





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Yeah...the harness folks just goofed, or thought the solenoid had a different terminal. Whack it off & mash the one ya need on there. 

Joel Adams
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in Forum: C3 Electrical
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