I just got the car delivered from TX and when it left, it was firing up with no problem. Now when I turn the key to run I hear the fuel pump and when I get to start, it doesn't engage the starter but fuel pump keeps pumping. Ideas??

It's just shy. Rap on the starter with a hammer and try it again...

Check the battery condition, Check the relay board connections.

Rapped it a few times but it didn't cure its shyness!

The battery appears to be on its last leg. I hooked the battery charger/65amp start up to it and got the same results. Is the relay board up on the left side of the engine compartment with the black plastic cover over it?? I will try to check that tomorrow.

Welcome to the madness.

Banging on the starter or hoping some electrical gremlin will magically resolve itself will not get your car to start.

If you don't have a volt meter, go buy one. You will need it over and over again with your 40 year old car.

If you don't have the electrical background to read a schematic call a friend or 2 who can read a schematic.

Measure the voltage on the battery and tell us what you read. Lets start here.

If the battery is on its last legs, replace it and move from there. You can get good voltage readout at no load, but have it fall on its face as soon as a load is placed. The starter is a pretty big load.

Zach

This happened to me tap on the big power relay attached to the fuse panel in the engine bay. It works every time.

Something to think about changing later is the ignition switch after you have checked the easy stuff.. good luck.

Go to O'Reilly's, Sears, or Autozone and buy a mechanic's remote starter gizmo - hook the 2 wires to 1- the battery positive and 2- to the yellow wire terminal on the starter solenoid

pull the trigger (or push the button) - if the solenoid does then not kick the starter into action - pull the starter & take it to a rebuilder

if it works - track back for the culprit as suggested above


.

That makes no sense. That "big power relay attached to the fuse panel" is your voltage regulator. Dont hit it.

12.68 volts on the Fluke meter.

I should also mention that the starter and battery were recently replaced.

12.68 sounds low, disconnect the negative side a check again please. a healthy 12 v battery should read over 13 volts.

That was with the negative lead off.

a healthy 12 volt battery usually reads closer to 13.5. i am no expert with these cars but i would try a different battery, or take yours to o reilly / autozone and have them load test it. if it passes they will quick charge it for free in about an hour

good luck! keep us posted

I had a very similar problem when my car arrived. I thought initially it was the starter, but after buying a new starter, and not solving my problem, I did all the checks that you are going to have suggested to you. But check out my thread, and see what my problem ended up being...it was the $5 fix, which is what I hope your issue ends up being. There is a lot of good trouble shooting in there, and you'll see that I had no experience with troubleshooting electrical issues either.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=192269&hl=

I checked the resistance from the pos (+) side of the battery to the big nut on the solenoid & it was .10.

It's a brand new battery.

Just tested the voltage on the yellow wire: 12.39. Could it be not enough volts coming from the ignition switch to the solenoid??

Looking in Haynes, it looks like I could jump 30 to 50 at the ignition to jump start the car. Going to hook up remote starter and see if it'll turn the starter.

Two on order from PP. :-)

I just hooked up the remote starter (red to battery pos (+)) black to the large spade on the solenoid & I get nothing. Sounds like a faulty solenoid. How do you bench test the starter??

If you can jump it from another car's battery, then it's your battery and/or starter
If you can push it, pop the clutch and get it running, it's likely got good ignition stuff and a bad starter/low battery

Removing the starter took me two people on the first try
There's a bolt that has one end inside the engine bay, the other end has a nut on the starter underneath. With practice, I learned to wedge a wrench onto the engine-side and get it "locked in" so the nut could be wrenched from under the car in front of the starter.

Bench testing is hooking the leads to a good battery and the solenoid should "extend" and turn the starter gear
Good luck!

You just tested it.

On a bench, hook a black jumper to the negative battery and the body of the starter to give it ground.
Then the red lead to positive and the large battery terminal on the solenoid.

You may have a bad (dirty or loose) ground somewhere...
Yoy need the battery to body connection to be super clean and tight.
Battery ground terminal, clean and tight
Ground strap at rear of tranny to under body...clean and tight.

Then, use a screw driver to jump from the hot terminal to the spade (trigger) for the relay.

Given the car was moved, and the key may have been left on more than once to turn the wheel....keep checking for grounds that are corrode (tranny ground strap) and fuses that shook loose etc.


rich

But it works every time!

What Rich said
I chased a "no start" until when taking the ground lead off the post on the upper inside fender it snapped off - it was a hunk of rust covered in paint.

I now have the battery grounded to the fan shroud on top of the engine

Try that - a better ground - and give it another jump before removing it

[/quote] You may have a bad (dirty or loose) ground somewhere...
Yoy need the battery to body connection to be super clean and tight.
Battery ground terminal, clean and tight
Ground strap at rear of tranny to under body...clean and tight.

Then, use a screw driver to jump from the hot terminal to the spade (trigger) for the relay.

Given the car was moved, and the key may have been left on more than once to turn the wheel....keep checking for grounds that are corrode (tranny ground strap) and fuses that shook loose etc.


rich
[/quote]



Check you connections, ground straps come loose more than you would think.

IT IS ALIVE!! Turns out the starter was faulty. Took it to O'Reilly & they confirmed it was a lemon & since it was only 4 months old, they gave me a free replacement!!

Always good to hear happy ending. I had a bit of a scary starter issue myself last month.