car wont crank

[slider85]

Drove my car home from work one night for about 30 minutes. Stopped, turned the car off, then came back 20 minutes later and it wouldn't crank, nothing, just power to the radio, fuel pump, etc. Waited till the next morning and the car cranked over but it did it slightly slower. Got the car home, turned it off, then tried to turn it back on, again nothing.
I tried to jump start the car a couple of days ago and it never turned over. I just did a visual inspection to the electrical lines in the engine bay and everything "looks" fine.

Background - I changed the starter about 2 years ago, replaced the battery with an Optima Yellow Top, was told the alternator was good last winter checkup, and the ignition was replaced about 4 years ago after the car got stolen. About two months ago I took the car in to replace my cracked oil pan, after that the lights would intermittently work when I turned my alarm on/off but now they dont blink when I activate the alarm. I figure one of the mechanics hit something but not sure. Never took the car back which was stupid of me.

I have not checked the ignition switch yet because Im not sure what to look for. I am going to get a voltmeter to check the battery, alternator, starter, etc.

Now, what should I check for? How do you know if the ignition switch is fried? Any help appreciated.

 

[poonman]

for starters just smell it, if it smell burnt look into it more, ill give you the diagrams though to test the voltage coming in and going out, but its alot more easy if you have a friend crank the car while you hold a multimeter on the ignition terminal on the starter and work backwards

But what engine do you have 18 or 20

 

[NavyP583]

i would check the battery, i had a dead cell in mine (optima red top) and it had very similar issues. the battery has enough power for the radio, and accessories. just not enough just to turn the motor over. although the optima batteries are very good they can still go bad, good thing the have a lifetime warranty. just an idea if your ign. checks out fine.

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

Yeah; test the battery, starter and alternator first of all, and get back with us. I mean you did replace the ignition not long ago; and those typically last 10-20 years..

By the way when we had a 90 Automatic, I had to basically bypass the ignition and run a hotwire type of starter setup (A pushbutton starter switch that comes with wires to hookup direct to the starter. You could try that also. It got our car started (but it had the old original ignition, I didn't feel like going there basically).

 

[poonman]

Also, Do you have an alarm?

 

[slider85]

Also, Do you have an alarm?

yeah I have an alarm and its the 2.0L.
Its hard to tell with my car, smell-wise, because it always smells like burning oil, but I didnt smell anything funny before.

 

[poonman]

here bro this is the alldata for the ignition, please let me know if you need any other diagrams

 

[slider85]

im gonna try to check the car on tuesday. im gonna take out a bunch of stuff, check it, then put it back, should be fun. thanks for the help

 

[PSITSI]

Loose wires on the starter? Or the starter could be bad. Just because it was replaced a few years ago doesn't mean it is good.

 

[slider85]

i had my battery checked today and it was all good. Im trying to check the starter relay but im a noob in terms of electrical stuff so Im not sure how to do it. I removed the relay and tried to check for voltage, but I dont think I did it properly because I couldnt get a reading. How do you check for voltage to the relay? Im using a multimeter but not sure which setting or where to check. Any help please?

ps. Im trying to do this stuff on my own so I can learn and Im storing my car right now to save money.

 

[slider85]

anyone know how to check for power at the starter relay?

 

[poonman]

here bro

 

[itzadawdge]

did the car back fire or anything? my brothers car (2002 mercury cougar) on those forums they said if that car has enough back fire it will blow your ignition. but it hard to say cause they both 2 totally different cars

 

[slider85]

here bro

thanks for that, but im talking about the starter relay under the dash where all the fuses and relays are

 

[poonman]

rely? hmm this shows the start signal goes strait to the ECM

1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse L4-1997cc 2.0L DOHC Copyright © 2005, ALLDATA 9.0 Page 1
Power Transistor: Description and Operation
PURPOSE/OPERATION
The power transistor controls ignition current by interrupting the ignition coil primary ground causing secondary circuit discharge. The engine
control module controls ignition timing through the power transistor. The power transistor is a type of switch that allows a very low Voltage (from
the engine control module) to control a larger amount of Voltage (negative side of coil). It is actually two power transistors combined into one
unit, controlling each circuit of the dual ignition coil. During engine cranking, the ignition timing is fixed at 5°BTDC.

 

[poonman]

1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse L4-1997cc 2.0L DOHC Copyright © 2005, ALLDATA 9.0 Page 1
MFI Relay: Description and Operation
PURPOSE/OPERATION
The multiport fuel injection relay supplies power to both IG [ON] and the engine control module. The relay also supplies power to the fuel pump,
injector, volume air flow sensor, etc. in addition to the engine control module.
NOTE: Failure of the control relay may interrupt power supply to the fuel pump, injectors and/or the engine control module resulting in start
failure.

 

[poonman]

Heres the relay I think your talking about

 

[slider85]

no, it has nothing, directly, to do with the ECM. its under the dash on the drivers side. Its a little black relay that can be removed and it has 4 connectors. I have a reapir manual that says you can check the power to the relay but I dont know how.

 

[poonman]

its the MFI relay, i just gave you the pdf how to do it

 

[bling5tatus]

Most car relays will need to have 12v of power applied to one side. Your willingness to learn and do this stuff yourself is very good, but your approach teeters on dangerous if you ask me. It's not so hard to fry a multimeter or a sensitive electronic part by incorrectly testing it. You will need someone to verify this, but I'm pretty sure a relay is just a switch that, when power is applied to terminal D, the relay switches current from A -> B to A -> C. And those letters are made up. So, to properly test one, you will need a 12v source to apply power to one of the terminals. Now, don't get me lyin about which terminal is which, but I'm sure someone here can tell you.


Oh and post #17 clearly documents the procedure involved in testing the mfi relay.

 

[slider85]

Oh and post #17 clearly documents the procedure involved in testing the mfi relay.

i realize that but that wasnt my question.

thanks for the other stuff though. Im gonna see if the auto parts store can check the relay for me and maybe explain it to me in person

 

[jamie97]

i had problem with car not having any power to starter and mine ended up being clutch safety switch under dash. it needed adjusted out but scince yours is cranking prob. not your prob.

 

[poonman]

if you do get the auto store to test it, print a copy of that MFI.pdf for them, there not all that smart in those shops

 

[slider85]

thanks for all the help, but once again it is not the MFI relay. that relay is in the engine compartment attached to the positive terminal of the battery. The relay I am talking about is under the dash just above the inside fuse box.

And, NO, my car is NOT cranking. But thanks anyways and good job at reading the title of the post.

 

[Zenja]

My car stopped cranking a couple of days ago. I took out the starter and tested it and it was fine. So I did some testing with a multimeter and figured out the relay was fine and the problem is that the wire somewhere between the relay and the signal wire for the starter was shorting to ground. In my case, I found out that the wire (somewhat thick black wire with a yellow stripe) is bad between a 6-wire connector harness by the passenger side foot area and the 4-wire harness that leads to the starter in the engine bay. I just have to splice a new wire in tomorrow as the problem is directly in the area where the wire crosses the firewall to the engine bay.

Your car won't crank due to these possible problems:
- bad ground to the starter
- bad battery connection to the starter
- starter or solenoid is bad
- signal wire (black wire with yellow stripe that clips onto the starter) isn't providing a good battery voltage while trying to crank
You can check all these simply with a multimeter. Check stuff like continuity of starter body to ground, of battery connection on starter to positive battery terminal, and see if the S+ signal wire on starter gets battery voltage when trying to crank.

The signal wire won't work right if the clutch safety switch is bad (unplug it to eliminate this problem, unplugging it will let the car crank without the clutch pushed in), if the relay is bad, if the ignition switch isn't providing battery voltage when turned to "start" position, or if the wiring is faulty somewhere along the way. It's a pretty simple circuit though so you should be able to trace the problem.