W/Gear Reduced Permanent Magnet

Fig. 6 Ford Motorcraft Gear Reduced Permanent Magnet Starter Motor:

This type of starter motor, Fig. 6, has the starter solenoid mounted on the starter housing. The starter relay connects battery power to the starter solenoid, causing it to energize. On models equipped with manual transmission, a clutch switch in the starter control circuit prevents operation unless the clutch pedal is depressed. On models equipped with automatic transmission, a neutral safety switch in the starter control circuit prevents operation of the starter unless the selector lever is in the ``Neutral'' or ``Park'' position.
When the starter solenoid is energized, a magnetic field is created in the solenoid windings. The plunger core is drawn to the solenoid coil and a lever connected to the drive assembly engages the drive pinion gear into the flywheel ring gear. When the plunger is all the way in, its contact disk closes the circuit between the battery and the motor feed terminals. This sends current to the motor and the drive pinion gear cranks the flywheel to start the engine. When the current flows to the engine, the solenoid pull-in coil is bypassed and the hold-in coil keeps the drive pinion gear engaged with the flywheel until the ignition switch is released from the ``On'' position.