Is there a particular Ford solenoid that is used when working in conjunction with a GM starter? I will probably go to Advance Auto or NAPA so I'm sure they will be asking for a year and model. And how do you wire it to the GM starter solenoid?

10 gauge wire to the two big lugs. One side is the power the other goes to the starter. you momentary switched power goes to the S terminal.

If you are meaning just a remote solenoid then I run battery cable to one side then from other side to big lug on starter with a jumper wire going from big lug to starter solenoid lug. This makes both terminals energize at same time on starter when starter switch is pushed.

Solenoid on my wife’s car failed last race, friend had a Standard Motor Products SS588 that I used, then bought one on Amazon for $16.

As far as wiring, both of my cars are like green1 described. Battery positive to one side of the solenoid, other side to starter. Then the start switch wire goes to the S terminal from your wiring board or neutral safety switch.

On the starter I have the spade terminal connected to the big wire stud coming from the solenoid with a ring terminal. When the remote solenoid makes the big wire hot it also activates the starter through the spade terminal.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 183N,

A Cole Hersee all metal continuous duty solenoid is much better than any plastic bodied solenoid.


I had an old Ford solenoid in the bottom of my toolbox....probably 40+ years old.


I opened it up during a work related solenoid discussion we had here not that long ago.


That solenoid was solid copper and all good quality inside.


Nothing you buy today would be as good.....copper plated and flimsy...


My dragster had the plastic small round slave solenoid arrangement and caused me problems twice...


I swapped it out for an HD, all metal Cole-Hersee and its been trouble free since....



You can easily find them on Amazon. When I need something anymore I just go there and there is never an issue getting what I want.


A truck type parts store would have something like those possibly....or a good auto parts store like a decent Napa.

basically Ford made 2 design solenoids the old conventional barrel looking one and the flat mount one. If you buy a Ford style solenoid buy a Standard Motor Products but don't buy their cheap line.
2 different ways to wire it depending on what you want. First way is to use it to energize the S terminal on your GM starter solenoid. You wire your start button through your neutral safety switch with light gauge wire. From your neutral switch to the Ford solenoid S terminal. Then you feed the heavy terminal of the Ford solenoid with a heavy wire, possibly even your main battery cable so you have a power lug in the car. Then you go from the other heavy terminal of the Ford solenoid with 10Ga wire to the S terminal of the GM starter. The GM solenoid will also need a battery feed. This simply uses the Ford solenoid as a relay to trigger your GM solenoid and keep the high amperage from your neutral safety switch.
The other method is to use the Ford solenoid to break the main battery cable to the GM starter so there is no power there unless the start button is pushed. To do it this way you put the main feed from the battery to one side of the Ford solenoid and a heavy cable from the other side to the GM starter. You then make a jumper from a 10ga wire or a piece of copper to jump from the main terminal of the GM solenoid to the S terminal. On some permanent magnet starters if you do it this way the starter might have a delay disengagement.

There are about 3-4 different solinoids that look similar but are internally different.

Some are grounded thru the mounting bolts.
Some are completely isolated and require a B+ and a ground to operate.

There are 3 connection and 4 connection models.

The original Ford style had 4 and was grounded thru the mounting bolts.
1 small terminal (s) was to operate it and the other small terminal (I) was to supply a full 12 volts to the ignition coil during cranking. That was when points were still being used and once running the points got less than 12 volts from a resistor or resistor wire. The (I) terminal got back fed but once the solenoid is de-energized that connection is open in the solenoid.

Using the wrong solenoid even though it looks right is real common.

We call it solenoid school at work.

They are used a lot on generators to isolate high current draws from controls.

Onan also uses them on their machines and they are not wired internally like the old Ford type.

You stick a std old Ford style solinoid in an Onan and it won’t work...

The junk from the auto parts store is just that - JUNK!

Jegs actually has a Jegs brand unit that works okay but there's no comparison to the stuff you could get 10-12 years ago.

What’s the pn for the Cole-hersee solenoid?
The parts store junk- even the ‘good’ junk- is junk!! They have let me down before!!
In ‘98, I had a Racecraft hardtail (back when 5.00’s was pretty quick!), parts store solenoid quit during time trials. One of my buddies was a lawnmower mechanic and happened to have a used 12v solenoid for a riding lawnmower in his truck toolbox- it worked flawlessly, matter of fact it was still on the dragster when I sold it a couple years later!

Napa # ST81 or ST85 for a heavy duty one(metal)

How we reccommend wiring your starter.

Had good results from them http://www.texasindustrialelectric.com/relays.asp

So what would happen if you used the "I" terminal on the Ford solenoid to energize the GM solenoid (small position)?

quote:

Originally posted by rick 1147:
So what would happen if you used the "I" terminal on the Ford solenoid to energize the GM solenoid (small position)?

It would work....but that terminal was never really meant to supply high current.

In the Mezeire drawing, they show a circuit that can supply much higher current.....