Need Help starter won't turn over
 

Just looking at recent posts here and it seems like a lot of this going on of late. Pls bear with me as I explain. I pulled the motor & tranny to replace my tranny i bought here a while ago. I marked all the wires and took pictures to help my failing memory to help expedite connecting everything back up. Got the tranny replaced, cleaned off all the gunk on the backside of the engine including the starter. As you can see from the pic it was pretty cruddy. Anyways, reinstalled the tranny, hooked up all the wires back up, connected the wiring to the starter, oil lines buttoned up, filled it with new oil, new oil filter & fuel filter and then waited for a week for the gear oil so i could fill the tranny. Decided to get new shoes for the gal and charged up the battery. Normally, after winter storage, I just charge up the battery, install and turn the key and away I go... but noooooooooo, after putting on the new shoes, filled the gear box and installed the battery, i hit the key. I hear the fuel pump come on and then go to start it....nuthing, zilch. notta. I have lights, fuel pump on, radio on, heater control works etc etc. So I spend the next 3 hrs reviewing my pics and connections thinking I forgotten something. Then I get my tester out and I get power on the wire at the starter with the red and blk wire connector. i dont get power when the ignition switch is turned to start at the yellow or bottom black wire. I take the harness plug out and notice a couple of pins not fully seated. so i pop the back off and those pins come out!! Sh**t.

Anyways, I attached two pics. I have the starter wired up as shown. and the pin connector that i detached and removed the cover. So, i need help on
1. diagnosing why i don't have power to engage the starter
2 a picture of the inside of the connector showing the proper wire/pin placement as a check to make sure I didn't mess it up when some of the pins came out of the holes...
3. Is there anything on the tranny that I missed or not reconnected that would prevent the starter from engaing?

Any electrical gurus here? Anything to help pls as I would like to get her on the road. Thanks.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370829965.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370829995.jpg

step one is to say what year you have. better yet put in your profile so it shows up on each post.

did you connect the ground strap from tranny to chassis? second photo shows 14 pin connector isn't connected. also 12 pin connector by shock tower.

man that is a lot of grime. get some gunk engine cleaner.

Check ground strap at trans, make sure it has a clean solid contact at the chassis and insure gear box contact is good as well

That is a before picture. I actually thought all the grime helped the starter. I cleaned it all up and now it won't start! DOH! and yes the connector is connected. I'll recheck the ground strap, but I did file the end for a good contact. Maybe I'll grab the one off the replaced tranny and try that one. I hope i didn't mess up the pin arrangement.

I do have power at the left terminal on the starter, so I just assumed that the ground strap was well grounded. Schumicat what 12 pin connector are you reference by the shock tower. I don't remember disconnecting a 12 pin connector in setting the motor pull. It's a 74 with a transplanted 3.0L

power at the terminal has NOTHING to do with ground.

the start signal goes thru that 14 pin connector in the second pic.

interesting, ok. haven't revisited the ground strap yet.... work gets in the way

Ok, removed, cleaned and replaced the ground strap. Nuthin. Ran a tester across the fuses in the second picture and there is no power. Could i have jarred something loose in the tranny tunnel? does wiring run thru there? any other thought out there? Which wire should I trace from the fuse box to the box in the engine compartment? Is there a connection I might have inadvertantly jarred loose while taking disconnecting the fuel lines as there are wires up in that area (but I think those wires are for the rear defogger) Thanks.

the 12 pin connnector is for the lambda (02 sensor) system and it should be by the driver side rear shock tower, but the 74 had no such system so you probably don't have it. I don't think it would cause the starter not to engage in any event. the 14 pin connector in the photo you posted does have wiring relating to starting car. go on the host site or get a manual and figure out the wire color in the 14 pin harness that goes to/from the starter.

Can anyone suggest a point of attack to try to trace the problem to the back fuses? I've traced the yellow and black wire from the starter to no avail... thanks.

the connector in your pic has the start wire in it. it needs to be connected. it can be connected with it not lined up properly.

do you have power at the main fuse block?

you may have the wires wrong on the starter. if so, it will not start. did you take the starter apart?

ok, time out, put a meter on the yellow wire on the starter (remove it first), set the meter to volts, with the battery connected, turn the key to start and see if there is voltage at the starter solenoid. nothing in the engine compartment, beside the 14 pin connector pertains to the start circuit.
Power comes from the battery and stands by at the starter, the yellow wire gets power from the battery via a red wire when the key is in the start position engaging the start solenoid with the power standing by (the big red wire). if there is power at the starter with the key in the start position, and there is power in the big red wire at the starter AND the starter still does not turn over, there could be a problem with the starter, try nudging it with a hammer around the solenoid. report back

Dr Brown, I will give that a whirl after work. I printed off the wiring diagrams here but they are pretty daunting and difficult to read and follow if you've never done it before. To recap, I have power at the main fuse panel (lights, radio etc on the car working) and have tested and have power at the blk and red wire at the starter. I only took off the starter to replace the tranny, did not do anything else to it except clean off the crud... maybe the starter's like a pig and was more comfortable all dirty??

Check continuity of the yellow wire from the starter to pin 2 of the 14 pin connector. Check continuity of the red wire at starter post to pin 13 of the 14 pin connector. The connector is numbered on the bottom.
If you have continuity on both of them, and the grounds are good then the ignition switch may be the problem.
I can post a pin out of the 14 pin connector for you in 8 hours when I get home from work.
If your engine wiring harness is messed up I know someone who can help! :)

Timmy2, the pin out on 14 pin connector would be grand, as I did open it up to check the pins and some of the pins came out. I think I got them back in the right position, but your pin out will help assist in double checking. Needless to say electrical is not my forte, that's why I spent more attention to labelling all the connections. This is so fustrating, as it should have been an shoe in reconnecting.

From my memory building a "few" harnesses:
Starting on the bottom row closest to where wires enter the connector.

Yellow/black, blue, green/white, space, green/yellow, green/black, yellow..

Bottom row from entry point,
Red, black, red/brown, space, grey, green/ red, space
(space = empty)

( grey and green/yellow may be on opposite sides from what I remember, swapped)

Colors with a slash mean striped. Third wire on top row may be different color combo or not there,as it is for the engine compartment heating fan.

Will try after work/dina, much huge appreciation for the help here so far in trying to get life back into the beast after the long winter of hibernation!

I'll confirm the wiring when I get home, but I think it will be correct.

timmy2, can I pick ur brain for a moment, in pic2 above, i put the tester across those terminals (all 3) and it doesn't light up), do you know where does power source for this fuse box come from? I thought I'd try there as well since there should be power. I'm ok at the front fuse box, all terminals light up. That might be the root of my problem.

Ignition has to be on for those fuses to be energized. Meter or lamp goes from either fuse terminal to ground. Not across the fuses.
They are "switched" power, meaning ignition needs to be on.