Starter Relay Location, Help, Searched, Voltage Drop on Battery

[JuiceGsTurbo024]

Alrite i have searched and done alot of reading! and i cant find answers! to my question so here it is! '
1. Car wont start, so i change the starter, then take old one to get tested(had an extra starter at home) i know what i am doing thats what hurts ... and kragen says its good and tested fine!! so i am like shit its not the starter!! so i think its ecu nope called dude sold me car and he told me its brand new... a year old or so..
2. So i see what voltage i am getting at the battery terminals so before i start car its 12.30 volts and when i start the car it goes down to 10.2 or so it drops it does not stay at 12.30...
3. So i change the battery, with another good one.... and bam it does the same thing... well i did not check the voltage but the car does teh same thing as the other battery....
4. I need to get some help to check what voltage i am getting at the starter it self!! so my questions is? what could it be? i think it could be the relay?? i checked all fuses and relays that i can check visually.... well any help would be great and just to make sure on the first 1gens the starter relay is to the right of the ECU right? and is being held by two bolts... gotta take of the side foot protector to remove the two bolts? and thats the starter relay? i dont see anythign else like in the chilton manuel!! and i lost my dsmdisk with all the info on it!well latez and hope you can help if yo uhave any questions ask me and i tell you right away

 

[luv2rallye]

If the car cranks it's not your starter relay (unless possibly cranking is intermittent). While cranking, the battery voltage may go to 10.2 but it should go back to over 12 when cranking is stopped. Important: The voltage at the starter should be within 0.1V of the voltage at the battery while cranking or you have a poor battery/starter cable connection or bad battery cable itself - which is then your problem. Note this could be either the positive or negative cable/connection and/or at either cable end. When measuring battery/starter voltage touch probe to post - not to terminal. Although while cranking you can measure to both to see if there is a bad connection there (or what's easier is to measure from post to terminal while cranking to see if there's a voltage drop).
If car doesn't crank, check clutch position switch, battery cable/connections, starter relay (note this relay is normally closed and opens to disengage starter if clutch pedal is not pressed), ignition switch.
For more tests see: http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217951

 

[titogs95]

2. So i see what voltage i am getting at the battery terminals so before i start car its 12.30 volts and when i start the car it goes down to 10.2 or so it drops it does not stay at 12.30...

I know it is old. I am currently having the same problem. As soon as I put the switch in "On" position it drops the voltages to 10.2 volts. and I am not even moving it to "start" position. (To crank the car on).
But if I leave it on "ACC" position it will go back to 12 volts.

Did you find out what the problem was in your car?

 

[luv2rallye]

Voltage at battery should not drop that far at just ON. You have either a weak battery (most likely) or bad alternator not chanrging battery or a partial short. Do tests here: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/258035-car-died-freeway-electrical-problems.html