dc solenoid blowing fuses

Help,i have a solenoid valve which was powered via a 9v dc square battery [smoke alarm type] via some electronics to provide a pulsed open and close of the valve the electronics enclosure was not made good by the irrigation system installers and now the electronics are cooked by the ingress of water,the coil of the valve is rated 9vdc to 40vdc but when i try and energise the coil via a standard 12vdc car battery i blow a 2amp inline fuse i installed in the positive side of the battery like a dead short,

what am i doing wrong?

It could be a lot of things. If you have an ohm meter you can measure it to see if it is shorted. Or it might be frozen by corrosion. They draw high current when they can't pull in. Or if its a big ol boy it might draw more than 2 amps.

9V to 40V? That can't be right, solenoids don't have voltage ranges that broad, perhaps the electronics unit works from 9-40 volts but solenoids are always given a single voltage because it's nothing more than a coil of wire, increasing the voltage from the 9v (with poor current sourcing 9volt batteries SUCK) to the 12V car battery that can source enough current to melt screwdrivers, no surprise it blew a fuse, if it hadn't it might have blown the coil. Can you take some decent pictures of the unit?