Starter troubles - no starter, why?

[timmy2]

Think of power flow as water through a garden hose. When you remove the female 14 pin connector you removed the next path for the power to flow, so it should be sitting on the male 14 pin connector pin one, ready to go through your meter to ground.

[gjmascoli]

Yep, got it��.
Lemme try again when I get home

[rusnak]

You can just check for 12v at the starter with the key on.

A quick check with a remote starter switch will tell you if it's the ground/ wire/ switch or the solenoid. If it's the solenoid, then you can either have it rebuilt or get a new/ reman starter and do an easy bolt in swap.

[gjmascoli]

Using my cheap Radio Shack Analog Multimeter.....

Voltage from Pin 1 to Ground is about 15V with the ignition in the Start position! Also getting 15V across the battery terminals. That is not good, right?

Reminder, battery and starter were replaced with new back in March / April'15.

[Ned, NYNA11]

Hi,Battery voltage is available always at the ignition switch and when you turn the key, the voltage is connected to the yellow wire which goes to a connector on the firewall nearby and the plug for the wire in that connector can be loose. This was the cause of the same problem in mine.

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by gjmascoli

Using my cheap Radio Shack Analog Multimeter.....

Voltage from Pin 1 to Ground is about 15V with the ignition in the Start position! Also getting 15V across the battery terminals. That is not good, right?

Reminder, battery and starter were replaced with new back in March / April'15.

Now do the same thing down at the starter. Car in neutral of course.

[DaveMcKenz]

I would reconnect your 14-pin and battery, and see if you get battery voltage on the yellow wire going to the starter with the ignition key in the start position. BTW 15V on your battery probably is due to meter error. If you get voltage on the yellow wire, you got a bad starter. It's probably a rebuild, but it probably has a warranty.
Good luck,
Dave

[timmy2]

Just pm'd you same instructions as others, time to crawl under the car and test for voltage at the starter. Disconnect the yellow wire lead to be safe and test it that way so the starter can't kick in if removing and re-seating the 14 pin connector solved the problem!

[mhackney]

Hello, I just recently had to diagnose a similar sounding issue on my 70S. Turn the key and the fuel pump comes on but no click from the solenoid and no starter motor. I check ground strap, voltages, pulled the ignition switch and checked it, etc. I was just in the process of learning the "bear hug" to remove the starter when I found a post that mentioned something about checking the voltage at the fuse box in the engine compartment. I did and it was quite low. Turned out to be a corroded terminal (yellow wire) in that 14 pin connector. Cleaned it up and it literally started up first time.

[SpyderMike]

Originally Posted by timmy2

Here is how the voltage makes it's way to the starter solenoid.
1. When key turned to start at switch 12 vdc is applied to the yellow wire. It runs through the 6 pin dash connector from the switch to a single spade connector that is part of the through body harness.
2. The voltage now travels directly through the through body harness to pin 1 of the 14 pin rear fuse panel connector.
3. Voltage now travels through the engine harness from pin one of the female engine harness 14 pin connector directly to the starter solenoid terminal.

As Dennis mentioned in 1 above, there is this connection behind the dash (yellow wire):



Posted for possible future reference...

[gjmascoli]

Crawled under the car again tonight to check if I'm getting any power at the starter. Before I pulled the Yellow Wire off the spade on the starter I checked to see if it was loose. Not terribly loose, but I could move it pretty easy. Hmmmm, before I go any further lets see if the starter engages. Sure enough, started right up.

But I do thank you for all the pointers!

[gjmascoli]

Well, perhaps I wasn't so dumb afterall. So three weeks have passed and I quickly understood that my problem was not a loose electrical connection. The starter worked great for a couple days, then I was back to the intermittent no-start.

So, I decided to go and tap the starter with a hammer. She starts. Drive to work. No start. Pop start her in 2nd gear drive home. Next day, starts right up. After work, no start. Bang the starter with hammer that I now keep in the car, starts right up.

So, this cycle of start, drive, park, no start, bang starter, start, drive, park, no start, pop, drive, park, start, ad nauseum continues for three weeks.

90% of time the starter engages after I clank it with the hammer. Occassionally I have to go back for a second round and hit it harder.

Decided it was a poorly rebuilt replacement starter. Ordered another replacement under warranty. It came in today.

Before I go and swap out the starter..................is there something I have missed? Remember, I replaced the ignition switch with new last month, and that worked for a couple days, then back to the PITA intermittant issue. Also replaced the transmission to body ground strap.