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420A Starter Issues

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DemiRoo

Probationary Member
1
0
Jan 20, 2020
Orange, Texas
Okay, so hopefully someone can help me out here. 420A with 179K miles. Bought the car knowing the starter was bad. Bought new starter, and a new battery. After replacing the starter and the battery it started right up, ran good. Turn it on and off about 4-5 times through out the day, drove it about 40 miles around town, came home and put it up for the night. Woke up this morning and now it wont start at all, relay clicks but starter does not engage at all. Tried jumping it off a larger car, still nothing. Battery is at 12 volts and I mean its brand new, and the starter is too. Kinda dumbfounded since it was fine yesterday and now its just back to being dead. I'm not super mechanically inclined so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: I have checked the battery connection, terminals are clean and tight, no corrosion that I can see, i have already check the starter relay - came back good.
 
Stick or auto? if stick it could be the clutch switch, if auto it could be the lock out switch on the transmission, otherwise it could be the starter, try tapping on it while someone has the key in the start position, parts store starters and alternators can be junk like that.
 
If the relay is clicking.
On my ‘95 TSI I ran RIGHT to the connector in the engine bay for the 12V supply to the starter solenoid (the 12V that’s coming from the starter relay). And pulled a multimeter out to test for 12V.
Doing it like this isn’t 100% fool proof, but ~95% of the time it’s good enough.

See if you’re getting 12V to the solenoid. It’s fast and easy to do. That usually determines my next course of action.
 
- Rebuilt starters are WELL KNOWN to be junk from ALL major auto stores. Go to a starter/alternator repair shop to get a decent re-built starter.
- Also check your battery voltage WHILE CRANKING. When not cranking, battery voltage means nothing. Battery voltage AND AT THE STARTER ITSELF must be > 9.6v WHILE CRANKING to have a battery with enough capacity and charge. And if much lower voltage at the starter than at the battery (> 1v difference), you have a poor connection somewhere or bad cable or possibly bad starter.
- You need to remove battery cables from BOTH ends and clean inside the terminals and the battery posts with sandpaper. Then reattach tight. Poor connections drops significant voltage right there while cranking so starter won't work which is the #1 cause of starter problems (yet lights and everything else works ok because they draw 5-10 times less current).
- There's also the possibility of a bad cable with internal corrosion or crack. While cable is off, check continuity with multimeter while bending cable all directions. You can also put voltmeter across the ends of a suspect cable while cranking to see if there's a voltage drop across it end to end (should be < 1v drop).
- You also may have a partial short somewhere which drains your battery overnight. https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/f...l-short-or-battery-drain.179481/#post-1496998
 
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