Bizzare starting issue after 2g trans swap, Wisemen pls read..

[MarkyGsX]

ok here's the situation, I recently had a 2g trans swapped into my 1g awd. After the trans swap the car is now having a starting issue. The car doesn't crank at all, it only clicks when trying to turn over but no crank. The car started fine with no issues before swapping the 2g trans and this is the second 2g trans on my 1g.

What i've done so far to diagnose:

-replaced and tested starter twice. I now have a new duralast starter on their and still no go

-Tested ignition switch signal and it tested fine. (i've had this problem in the past with another dsm and the ignition switch was the problem.)

-Checked the ring gear through the starter hole to make sure the ring gear is there to make contact with the starter gear. Ring gear seems to be in the right place.

-Battery is fully charged and all connections to starter and battery triple checked

The car does runs normal when push started. But absolutely no crank. I thought i've seen everything with theses dsm's being that this is my 5th but i'm beginning to run out of ideas..i've been trying to get my car running for the last month,

What do you guys think? All help is much appreciated..

 

[JusMX141]

Did you put the ground back on the bell housing bolt?

 

[deviousgst]

I had the same exact problem when working on a customers car. All I did was change hg and oil pump. Tried to start it and it made a weird noise like if the flywheel locked up on the starter. Swapped 3 starters and nothing. Inspected flywheel through the plate and seemed good. Tried starting it again and it'll just click n click. Pushed started it and ran fine..ended up cleaning terminals and re-grounded it and she fired right up.

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[MarkyGsX]

Cleaned the terminals on the starter solenoid connections or on the battery terminal...? which ground did you reground? the main chassis grounds or the one for the starter itself...?

 

[Geier]

The starter could be getting bound up. What kind of flywheel did you use?

It sound like the starter works on a bench test, right?

You will need some sort of amp meter, like a VAT-40 to check the amps @ the starter while cranking. It sounds like the starter ground wire though.

 

[MarkyGsX]

Im using an oem flywheel, and yes the starter did work on a bench tests but I have a new one on their now just to be sure its nothing in the starter. im going to check the ground at the bell housing, and all jump a power wire directly to the signal wire on the starter to check that, i'll let u guys know what happens, hopefully it is something that simple

 

[deviousgst]

Cleaned the terminals on the starter solenoid connections or on the battery terminal...? which ground did you reground? the main chassis grounds or the one for the starter itself...?

On the battery terminals(in my situation) I figured it was that because as I loosened the terminals it sparked so I figured it made good connection, so I cranked it and it started. So then I just cleaned terminals on battery n cables its self and took ground wire from transmission and cleaned it and bolted it back to tranny and it worked.

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[cola]

theres 2 grounds coming from the starter - one is directly grounded to the bellhousing

 

[MarkyGsX]

Update: I've already cleaned the terminals on the battery and I checked the ground on the bell housing earlier and cleaned it and reinstalled it still nothing, . I also jumped a wire from the battery directly to the starter signal wire and still nothing, just clicks.


Where is the second ground for the starter located at..? i wasn't aware there was a second ground, i can check that tomorrow

 

[DSM1G90]

Turbo vehicles will sometimes have more than two grounds - one run to the firewall, second run to the transmission bell housing and the third run heads to the intake manifold.

..the way mine is.

Some users will have many grounds than just two or three. One heads around behind the motor to the ps pump, two runs to each shock tower, one run to exhaust manifold, et.al. ... In doing these many ground attachments, is that the terminal connected to the battery is much larger to handle a "tap" of sorts to accomodiate these many connections that must be the same wire gauge as the original to keep the current flow even. You change one wire gauge to smaller and that's asking for trouble.

.. and why you have that braided strap running from exhaust pipe up to chassis in front of the "cat" .. gotta ground the exhaust pipe.

..why so many "grounds" so to say is that DC current runs negative to positive, and the more grounds you have the better the current will flow with less resistance from the battery-less 'choking' of the current and you do get better response with these many "grounds" - which is operating the vehicle's electronics and the alternator is just there to keep the battery topped off.

-DSM

 

[luv2rallye]

The starter ground should be a large cable going directly from battery negative (not firewall) to a starter mounting bolt on the bell housing. There should be a separate large cable going from battery negative to the firewall.

 

[Rich_Howell]

I've actually had nothing but problems running the starter ground wire to the starter bolt. I run mine to the next bolt "up" that goes through the thermostat pipe bracket, the bellhousing, and then into the block. With it in the starter bolt, the damn thing wouldn't start at ALL. Weird.

 

[bryanwheat]

I've actually had nothing but problems running the starter ground wire to the starter bolt. I run mine to the next bolt "up" that goes through the thermostat pipe bracket, the bellhousing, and then into the block. With it in the starter bolt, the damn thing wouldn't start at ALL. Weird.

You've got to have some corrosion on the transmission, starter, or the bolt for the starter. The car's come from the factory with the ground ran to the starter. Out of the 100+ cars that i've had to re-attach that after working on the car, i've never had a single on that will not start.

 

[luv2rallye]

You've got to have some corrosion on the transmission, starter, or the bolt for the starter.

I agree. His starter mounting bolt somehow is not making 0 resistance contact with the starter casing since 100% of the starter negative current must go through its casing. Perhaps he has grease, dirt, or lock tite on the bolt threads or under its head or on the wire terminal which contacts the bolt head which is adding resistance. Or there just happens to be a high resistance (> 0.05 ohm) spot in the cable that gets bent the right way when connecting it to the bolt head where it doesn't when connecting to the other place since its bent slightly different. If so its only a matter of time.