I just replaced my original starter with a rebuilt unit and the car still isn't turning over. Power is OK - battery is charged, I hear the fuel pump start pumping when I turn the key then nothing. What do I do next? Thanks

Reach up from underneath (car out of gear or up on JS's) and bridge the solo

noid to main power cable from battery to starter. Jump it and see if starter works.

If so check wire from solonoid to switch. If good test switch itself. Let us know.

I would check the ground straps also.

So I jump the solenoid to the starter with a piece of wire or can I use a screw driver or wrench? I'm new at this so forgive a dumb question - the solenoid is attached to the starter right? There is a ground strap from the tranny to the body that appears intact. How do I check the switch?

Double-check car is in neutral first of course. Screwdriver, not wire. From red to green arrow in photo...

Maybe two of the wires are connected at the wrong place on the solenoid. Yellow wire goes by itself on the very top spade at the top of the solenoid.
Get those backwards and it won't start.
Photo shows it. Photo courtesy of Rand when I had a starter problem.

Mike Cooley



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and a big one with a good insulating handle at that. trust me, you do *not* want that current to flow through your arm, or worse ...

Andy

If you have a '74, you may want to check the seatbelt interlock relay (under passengers seat). You can jump pins 50 and C (the large yellow and Yel/Red wires).

Right... If the screwdriver trick cranks it, then next things to check are connections at the seatbelt relay or a cracked ignition switch.

When mine wouldn't crank, the ignition switch was the problem. I also ended up eliminating the seatbelt relay junk just to clean things up (cut everything out, join the large yellow solenoid wire and join all the brown-only ground wires. The rest aren't needed).

If you haven't ever replaced the ignition switch, you'll most likely find it's cracked in half or something of the like. You have the take off the steering wheel and part of the steering column to get to it. Not so hard after you've done it a few times.
But first check your starter stuff.

You can check your yellow wire (the spade connector one at top) on the starter. Hook a voltmeter up to it to see if it's getting power when you turn the key all the way to start.

If you are getting power to it, clean up your connections where it connects to the solenoid by sanding it or whatever. This happened to me just last week, and that was the problem for me.

Also check your tranny ground...

Something strange happened. I replaced the switch (finally) which was broken. When I went to hook the starter back up, I noticed the yellow wire was attached to another wire that went into my trunk, through a relay with a 15 amp fuse and then back to the top prong on the starter. There was also a hot lead going from the relay to the hot side of the starter along with the cable from the battery. The car wouldn't start because I kept blowing the 15 amp fuse so I disconnected the whole thing and hooked it back up the OEM way. What gives with this relay? The only thing I can think of is that it was added when I switched out the 1.8 for a 2.0. The 2.0 has an optical ignition instead of points. Does anybody know what the h*ll this is? Am I going to screw up my ignition or electrical system by running without this relay? I'm learning everything on this car the hard way, any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

Frank B

I forgot to mention that when I pulled the relay out of the circuit, the car started and runs fine.

How about some photos showing the relay. I would guess, and this is strickly a guess, that it was some sort of theft deterrant device and somehow it quit functioning and allowed you to start normally until you removed the wiring from the old starter and that lack of current zapped the over ride.

here are pictures of the relay and the wiring? What gives?

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better picture of wiring and relay. Blue wire connects to yellow wire out of wiring harness, blue goes to relay, black comes out of relay and goes to top post on starter, red comes out of relay and goes to bottom bolt on starter (hot lead?). The picture of the starter is the old starter that I have since replaced


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Probably a hot-start relay added by the previous owner in an attempt to fix intermittent start problems. My PO did the same thing, and I was happy to get rid of it and clean things up right.

(The point of such a relay is to relieve the starter circuit from some of the current-draw. Note, the solenoid acts as the relay for the cranking power to the starter... This relay add-on is ahead of the solenoid and will help if that starter circuit is dirty and has voltage loss. My opinion is it's a band-aid. But a potential benefit is it can increase the lifespan of the starter switch and circuit because it won't pull as much current through that whole circuit - although it is arguable that the solenoid really draws enough to cause trouble.)

looks like a remote kill switch.

That's it! Thanks. Clearly works like a charm

Sorry to drag it on but to be on the safe side, has to be a toggle switch somewhere

http://www.apogeekits.com/PDF_Files/Igniti...toff_Manual.pdf

on page 4, the schematics look very similar to your photo group wiring.

Glad you resolved the problem.

There is no toggle switch but it makes sense that there should be one. If it were there, I could have thrown it to the off position and saved myself some headaches. I'm pretty sure I replaced a starter that worked fine (although it is original to the car so I guess it was likely to fail at some point). Anybody want to buy a used starter?

I think I've finally defeated the electrical gremlins in my car and it's ready to go for 2007. It took going back to the original starter, eliminating the hot start relay, cleaning all the contact points on the battery and grounds and charging the battery again. I think the solenoid must be bad on the rebuilt unit I had put in before I knew my problem was the ignition switch. I also installed new drilled rotors and new bearings all around. Any events in the Philadelphia area coming up? I need to get it out on the road

Thanks as always for all the helpful suggestions



Frank B