[BigDanTheMan]

once my motors failed so i pulled them and tested them on a 12volt battery. they worked just fine off the battery so i thought maybe i'd hook them up again with out a load to ensure that they were getting the right voltage. long story short the motors were dirty and not getting 100% of the necessary volts from the old wires. once they were "broken free" by the battery they ran fine and continue to do so.

pull a motor (use a chilton's) and wire it to a battery. it does not matter if you go red to negetive or yellow to positive or any combination because the difference in polarization (is that the right concept here) forces the motor clockwise or counterclockwise depending. either way is fine.