Chrysler Repair: 97 Neon: Starter motor only clicks, solenoid switch, starter solenoid

Question
Thank you for your answers before .. we have anthor question

the 3 wire connections at the starter motor. Can you tell me which way it goes to each connection.  which connextion goes to the starter relay When we turn it we just get a (one) click.

Thanks linda

Answer
Hi Linda,
The brown wire is from the engine starter motor relay and it goes to the starter solenoid switch whose purpose is to connect the battery to the starter motor and to operate the bendix gear unit which connects the starter gear to the engine flex plate. That solenoid, if it is a loud click coming from the starter motor that you hear, indicates that everything is ready to crank the starter over and turn the engine. (If it is a soft click coming only from the starter motor relay, then there is an issue possibly with the brown wire or the solenoid switch). But for one of several possible reasons the starter motor isn't getting the current to make it run:
There is a fat red wire attached to the same point as a black wire on the starter motor. Both of those are 12V-carrying wires: one comes directly from the battery, the fatter one, so be very careful not to have the battery -clamp connected when you touch that wire as you are otherwise running the risk of a burn if you accidentally ground that fat red wire with a wrench. The smaller black wire on the same connection goes to the alternator and so this wire is actually designed to carry charging current from the alternator back to the battery via the fat red wire to which it is connected. It could just as well been connected directly to the + post of the battery but that is how Chrysler chose to wire this vehicle. As long as the two wires are connected together it too is 'hot' and poses a risk if shorted to ground. At the other end of that wire, at the alternator, you will find that it is black/gray in color.
What you describe, if it is a loud click, means that either the starter brushes/armature/field coils are sub par, or that the battery is weak, or that the fat red wire is poorly connected between the battery and the starter, or that the - clamp wires on the battery are poorly connected to that post of the battery or at their far ends (the frame in front of the battery, the front of the engine). If you check the charge state/voltage of the battery and also determine that it is not beyond its warranty time, and verify the wires that I described are all clean and tight, then I would suspect that the starter needs to be rebuilt. I prefer doing that if there is an alternator rebuilding shop near you rather than buying a rebulit from a part store.
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