Ignition wiring

[djailer]

I have been having problems getting my 97 GST started for a while now. I will turn the key over anywhere from 2 - about 100 times before it will kick in. Starter is verified good, new battery. I tried jumping the ign. relay and still had the click, click, click. Some cold mornings it fired right up, some it took 3-5 minutes of trying. Same after work.

Friday I am driving home and I almost notice a tiny wisp of what looked like smoke come up from my steering column. Strange I thought and I felt quickly underneath it just in case I might notice a hot wire. The wires were warm but not hot. Next thing I know I am coasting so I quickly -for some unknown random reason, try messing with the wiring and presto back come the engine lights and I rolling fast enough to compression start it back up. This happens two more times on the way home.

Now it is parked at home and today I thought I would check out the wiring. I found what I presume is a main battery wire - white (burned brownish on the end for about 1/2 inch. There is also a turbo timer installed. I have never used it - it came with the car. Doesn't make a lot of sense in a stick shift anyway. Anyone want it?

I figured I might as well take that out since I am under there and have the kick panel under the steering wheel out. They used a 6-pin harness which is wired off of the regular harness(also 6 pin). I looked at it very carefully and noticed that there were four wires going in on one end(red, blue, green, white) plus two white wires with nothing on the back side. On the battery side(??) there are five wires - a large white one(powered), blue w/black, a black with white stripe, black w/red, and a blue. Red matched up to the big white one, green to blue w/blk, blue went to black/white and white to the black/red. I have no idea what goes to blue. It used to have one of the white ones which didn't seem to have any connection on the other end.

I snipped the burned wire, put a connector back on it and got it back into the plug. There are only four wires going to that though and that might be the problem. Now there is no power to the starting system. The interior lights work, the key beeps while in the ignition but no engine lights.

Any thoughts on what I am up against. I think I am up to taking it in and having someone who knows wiring but just in case...??

Doug

 

[AFG-DSM2g]

If you can show some pics, it might be a lot more helpfull.

 

[DSM1G90]

At first, I call it the selenoid contacts in the starter itself. You hit the key, the plunger get's pulled back, but the plunger ring attached to the plunger isn't making contact with the two contacts in the starter selenoid to swing the motor half of the time.

Seen that too many times with import starters when they get age on them..and the copper contacts do wear out faster than the starter itself.

But, maybe due to the massive starting problems you're having, a lot of current from the key assembly finally found a weak spot in the wiring and decided to let go.

True, yank out that fool BS timer junk and see if you can color code match up the wires back together...

 

[djailer]

Here are some photos of the connection, and part of the pigtail which was there. Note the two white wires on the right end that did not go anywhere on the bottom photo...but one of them ended up going to the blue wire on the very left. It could not have come from the left wires 'cause there are only 4 there.

 

[DSM1G90]

I find it interesting of all the white wires - which is really a wrong thing to do in any electrical setup - where are you gonna trace which wire goes where?

I bet those white wires are not stock wires, but added on by a 3rd part of sorts to do a certain function.

Obviously, the white, red, green and blue being 18G wiring is what you need for the main current handling. That black with the blue wire lockdown top doesn't look stock at all. And it's also obvious that the smaller plug with the red and green banana connection are any near stock material but add-on to that odd main plug.

Now, going back to the main four pigtailed wires: is that from the key side? They have to terminate somewhere..

Kinda like I had to do to my father's 96 S-10 PU last year: he bought this vehicle used and it had the most goofiest alarm setup along with stereo wiring.. he was also having starting problems along with that damnable alarm going off for no good reason to where I had to do the same by yanking out all of that junk, heaved the junk in the trashcan and almost do a complete rewire under the dash to get it back to stock form.

 

[djailer]

Yeah...all the white wiring is BS. The turbo timer came off of the small plug and nothing was connected to the banana plugs. I also have an alarm installed - which I did not do either. I think the wires on the left go to the key and the others go to the engine. Any thoughts on what five wires go into the firewall? The TT was grounded to the frame and had one brown wire clamped over what I assume was a power connection inside of the center console. Did that maybe ground something that the connector doesn't?