Starter circuit breaker

[Andrew Hamilton]

Went to start my engine Superior 0-360 (7 years old and 350 hours) and the stater circuit breaker popped. Assumed a faulty starter solenoid so replaced it. Still blowing the circuit breaker. Checked starter and found to be fine.
Any thoughts on what to check next. Could it be a faulty circuit breaker although this seems fine too as it will reset after approx 20 seconds.
Battery only has 12.4 volts but I thought this should be plenty to turn the engine. Not sure where to look next. Appreciate any thoughts.

 

[Frank Smidler]

Circuit breaker on starter?

Do you mean a circuit breaker on the starter switch circuit that energizes the starter solenoid? If so it has nothing to do with the starter itself. The way the solenoid will fail is due to worn contactors which will not afffect the activation of the solenoid, the power it draws or the starter switch circuit. The circuit breaker is only there to protect the wiring if for some reason it gets shorted out. If you are popping the breaker I would start tracing the wire from the starter switch to the starter solenoid.

 

[tim2542]

Isolate the problem

Disconnect the wire from the starter solenoid and see if it still pops the breaker. Since you have already replaced the solenoid, most likely you are going to find an unintentional ground in the wire from the starter switch, or possibly just a bad circuit breaker.
Tim

 

[fl-mike]

Starter contactor coil diode backwards? That will result in a short to ground when you attempt to energize the starter contactor.

 

[Jesse]

What is your breaker rated? It should be a 5 Amp breaker. It sounds like there is a short somewhere as others have mentioned.