Car won't start....

[juddsgsx]

Ok the car originally went down with a blown hg about a year and a half ago. Fast forward to now finally getting everything back together after finding problem after problem with the motor from the previous owner. I install everything back the way it was and go to crank it and all I get is a click. It has a brand new battery. I tried 2 different starters. At the time I was getting the click I hadn't bled the clutch line yet. Not that I thought it would matter considering I have the clutch safety switch disabled. Well I bleed the clutch and randomly try it and I get the same result except the click no longer happens. I use a multimeter to check the voltage on the starter wires and it started sparking on the ground wire???? Then one of the coil packs started getting hot. I have no clue about wiring other than I have everything grounded that was before. I even tried to roll start it and it didn't come close to firing up. Anyone?

 

[FFTec - jerry]

Hello Chris,

I think you need to find your electrical bug before trying to get the car started again. Bump starting the car will only make matters worse at this point. Find the DSM bible (manual) and start checking all the connections, grounds, and wire harnesses. If the grounds are not cleaned off, they may not be completely grounded. If you were swapping the block, head, or transmission, a wiring harness may have been pinched while working, and wires may have been severed. Check them out and make sure nothing is exposed or cut. The clicking means you are getting power, but something with the rest of the wiring may not be correct. I'd remove the coil pack while you are tracing this stuff down, and keep a battery tender on the battery while you are checking all this out, the key will be in the "on" position for a good portion of this. I hope this helps, let us know what you find!!

One more thing: you might want to prime the motor before cranking it over if it's a freshly built block.

Jerry

 

[juddsgsx]

Ok I noticed something weird with the starter. I had both tested and 1 was good and 1 was bad. Both spun freely but the bad one didn't push outward. Well I put the wires to the starter on my car without installing it so I could see what it was doing and it will push the cylinder outward but it won't spin freely. It extends as far as it can and just clicks but won't spin. And I even hooked my F350 battery to mine to make sure I had enough power and this time I only got one click instead of repeated clicks when it was just hooked to the car alone. Dear baby jesus please help me.

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

Well, I would locate the source of the click. If it's on the starter then I would say you have a bad solenoid or something along the lines of that. Get a schematic and follow it back from the starter. Don't forget that the clutch switch can go bad occasionally. If the engine turns over by pushing then I can rule out locked up engine. I've seen that one on more than one occasion.

Good Luck

 

[hereitcomes]

You may have blown a fuse. You said something sparked, so thats a good way to pop your fuse instead of popping the ECU. Im not sure where that fuse is on 2g's but 1g's its the power fuse relay right in the front of the fusebox in the engine bay. I dont have any resources with me so ill post back on to what it is called.

 

[juddsgsx]

No fuses are blown I would have noticed that. I stumbled upon something very weird. I have replaced all of the power/ground wires that go to the starter. I see no wires that are damaged whatsoever. What is weird is while testing the starter off of the car I noticed that it will work when the pos bolt that is attached to the solenoid is pushed all the way in. They come with a nut that tightens the bolt. But if you loosen the nut the bolt will freely go in and out and side to side a little. There's no threading to it. The problem is you can't keep the bolt down (or I can't anyway). The only way that would seem to be is from inside the solenoid itself. And I know they're supposed to work as they come new but I've tried 4 total. The last 2 were brand new and both only worked when this bolt was pushed in. And like I said I can't keep it pushed in and put it on the car. As soon as power hits it the bolt will pop back loose. So what would be keeping it from working as it comes stock????? I am seriously tired of this shit. I am no mechanic but as most people here my hand was forced.

 

[juddsgsx]

Mk well I just found out it's not supposed to be pushed down as I finally got it to stay and put it on the car. Got constant whining as soon as I touched the terminals and immediately took it off. Yay out of ideas. Also when the car was running I only had a pos, ground, and pos to solenoid. I've found out other people have a ground going to the trans mounting bolt. I made one myself going from there to the firewall so I dunno if that would have helped or no. Pretty much just pissing in the wind I guess now.