1G Kill Switch dilemma

[jay06]

Hey guys this is my first post to a forum ever but I NEED help.

I bought this 1990 Eclipse GS-T from some dude and he showed me vids and said the engine is running and everything's working fine minus the fact he used to live in FL so he had wired a kill switch into the car for theft prevention. The car is now in my driveway and I've been looking endlessly for a solution but have failed every time.

Here's what I know:
- Battery was shot so I am using a jump to get my power
- When I put the car KOEO I notice that the dash lights and most of my acc are working with basically full power including blower motor, lights, etc.
- When I put the key into "start" the car doesn't crank and the entire power shuts off, about all the lights and acc either dim or turn off completely and when I let go of "start" all the power comes back
- The kill switch at hand came to me completely disconnected but still in the car from the dudes attempt to fix it.
- I found a ground wire in the harness wire bundle going from the battery to the starter that had been cut and was left hanging (it was a black and yellow wire) so I hooked up my jumper cables to the starter and the ground to a ground then with the trigger wire connected I powered it up and connected the trigger to power and all I heard was one click coming from the starter solenoid. I'm not sure if I wired it wrong or the starter is just bad or whatever the case is

I'm not sure if it's just simply the starter or just the ignition switch but I want to be able to test stuff before I go out buying

If there's any info you know that can help please HELP

 

[pauleyman]

Put a battery in the car. Fix the starter ground wire. Start from there with proper systems. You could be causing your own problem and don't know it.

 

[jay06]

Put a battery in the car. Fix the starter ground wire. Start from there with proper systems. You could be causing your own problem and don't know it.

thanks for the reply! I put a battery and fixed the ground when I put the key in and pushed it to start the whole cars power still goes off/ dims but now I hear a click from the solenoid in the starter but nothing from the starter motor. Does that mean my starters bad?

 

[pauleyman]

Check all the grounds. Did you verify motor turns over by hand easily? There are multiple things this could be and you will need to eliminate them one by one.

 

[We're on Boost]

now I hear a click from the solenoid in the starter but nothing from the starter motor. Does that mean my starters bad?

The surest way to check your starter is to temporarily disconnect the stock small wire that goes to the 1/4" wide flat lug on the starter solenoid, and run power to that lug with your own wire. Your own wire you'd run just in the engine bay. Run it over to the + post of the battery. Have it there so you can touch it to the battery + post for just a second or two. That should crank the starter.
Your own wire should be at least 14 gauge. I use a chunk of 10 gauge wire for this.

The idea of doing this is to bypass all the rubbish that is in the stock start circuit, including even the ignition switch.
So in this test you temporarily have a deal involving the battery, the starter, the main ground wire that goes from battery - post to a starter bolt, the main + wire that goes from battery + post to the starter, and your temporary hand-held wire.

That's the simplest hook-up. If the starter works like that, then the problem is somewhere else besides the starter.
Be careful of course. And you still need a good battery to do this test.


BTW the Black and yellow wire that you found cut -- The original stock main ground wire is black with a yellow stripe on it, and it's about 5/16" diameter with the insulation on. With that wire cut, the only ground you probably had from the battery would have been a smaller wire going from battery neg post to the firewall. That's enough to run accessories and lights, but then when you try to fire the starter it would be so overwhelmed that it would do like you described in the first post.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

It will also find THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE and creep up your throttle cable, YES THE THROTTLE CABLE if you do not have proper grounds.

In our case, the car was moving (it was a Honda) and it made the throttle stick and not return.

ALWAYS CHECK ALL OF THE GROUNDS. They are as much OR MORE important than the hot side of the cars electrical system.

 

[We're on Boost]

creep up your throttle cable, YES THE THROTTLE CABLE if you do not have proper grounds. In our case, the car was moving (it was a Honda) and it made the throttle stick and not return.

Yeah that's pretty scary

Here's a shot of my battery neg post and the 4 cables that run from it.
Two of the cables go one to each starter bolt. Both starter bolts are new, clean, zinc plated.
The other two cables go to new clean never-been-painted bolts on the firewall.
I like a little bit of redundancy here!

The old looking cable that is black with a yellow stripe is the original 1990 main ground wire!
Not much of a corrosion problem here where I live, so that old wire is still ok.
Florida and New York probably not so good.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[steve]

Here's a shot of my battery neg post and the 4 cables that run from it.
Two of the cables go one to each starter bolt. Both starter bolts are new, clean, zinc plated.
The other two cables go to new clean never-been-painted bolts on the firewall.
I like a little bit of redundancy here!

May I suggest that you change one of those starter wires to run to the Alternator mounting bolt.

My firewall ground is a 0 gauge wire from the battery. Not really overkill as it matches the feed to the amplifiers in the hatch.

There are several threads here from people welding their throttle cables when their grounds failed or missing.

 

[99dsmer4g63]

The “ground” wire you found that is black with a yellow stripe may be the original key signal that went to the starter not a ground.

Look at the starter and see what wire they have on the signal. Unhook it and hook up the original. Probably start with the key then.

-Daniel

 

[We're on Boost]

The “ground” wire you found that is black with a yellow stripe may be the original key signal that went to the starter not a ground.

Yeah I thought of that too. It is a possible confusion because that solenoid trigger wire is also black with a yellow stripe.

The trigger wire is a lot smaller, that's why I mentioned that the "big" ground cable from the battery is about 5/16" diameter over the insulation. The trigger wire is as I remember more like 1/8" diameter over the insulation.

If the OP is still looking, you can see both wires in these circuit diagrams. Both wires are labeled B/Y. These diagrams should be more or less correct for your car. They have the right stuff and the right colors. It's got the trigger wire to the solenoid, and the battery ground wire:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

My firewall ground is a 0 gauge wire from the battery. Not really overkill as it matches the feed to the amplifiers in the hatch.

That should be good for some high torque audio!