Wiring Nightmare, Please Help!

Try some new battery cables......

Mine did the same thing. Radio worked fine in the back position and would cut off and on in the run position. I noticed my fan pulled alot of juice too. I did the 130 amp alt. upgrade and wired a relay for the fan and the problem was solved. I beleive the relay made the most difference.My car didn't even idle or run good w/ the fan on before I put the relay on because it was pulling so much juice.

Here's a checklist:

Check battery, terminal connections, ground, starter relay switch (also known as solenoid) and starter in that order.

A voltmeter is handy if you are familiar with how to use it to find bad connections. Measure the voltage drop across a connection: more than .5 volts across a connection indicates a problem.
See http://www.fluke.com/application_notes/automotive/circuit.asp?AGID=1&SID=103#volt for a diagram on how to do voltage drop testing

1.) Will the car start if it is jumped? Then clean battery terminals and check the battery. Most auto parts stores will do a free battery check if you bring them the battery.

2.) Check the battery to engine block ground, and the ground behind the engine to the firewall.

3.) Check the cables for cracks in the insulation, and corrosion around the wire where it joins the connector. Look for swelling of the cable’s diameter which would indicate corrosion inside the cable. Bending the cable can often reveal corrosive damage inside the cable when the outside looks OK.

4.) Put the car's transmission in neutral or have someone press in on the clutch. Then pull the small push on connector (red wire) off the starter relay (Looks like it is stuck on a screw) and jump it to the terminal that is connected to the battery. If it starts, the relay is good and your problem is in the rest of the circuit.

5.) .) Remember to check the ignition switch, neutral safety switch on auto trans and the clutch safety switch on manual trans cars. If they are good, then the relay is bad. See http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d80195960.gif for a very good diagram of the starter & neutral safety switch wiring

6.) Jump the big terminals on the starter relay next to the battery with a screwdriver - watch out for the sparks! If the engine cranks, the starter and power wiring are good. The starter relay is also known as a starter solenoid. If jumpering the two big solenoid posts made the starter crank, the logical next step is to replace the starter solenoid (also known as the starter relay).

7.) The starter may be hung, loosen up the bolts that hold it on, and give it a good whack with a big hammer. Tighten up the bolts and try again.

8.) Pull the starter and take it to Autozone or Pep Boys and have them test it. If the starter fails the test, then replace it. If you got this far, the starter is probably bad.

U could have a bad cell in the battery.

kdog_x said:

I tried putting a charger on it, set at both 10 and 50 amp output, both only produced clicks. If I unplug the push on connector and crank, there is no noise at all. Which makes me think that the solenoid is OK.



As far as jrichker's post


4.) Didnt have a partner to help

6.) Didnt crank when I jumpered the two terminals together

Click to expand...

couple things are not quite right.

First part of your quote: might recheck the test. with the slide-on terminal removed, there is no way for the starter (via the solenoid) to know you are cranking the car.

you can do test 4 by yourself, for future reference. re-read what he said. you dont need to push the clutch in (JUST BE SURE YOU ARE IN NEUTRAL AND HAVE THE E-BRAKE ON!).

ok, if you jumped the two large lugs on the solenoid together and it did not start (you used something that can conduct a lot of juice, right? a small screwdriver is not sufficient), that suggests the primary stuff (battery, cables, grounds, etc). you should be able to jump start the thing though. i would investigate further. also, i think you said you had an almost dry plate on one cell - bad. i might take the battery to the parts store and have them load test it. a new battery might not be the solution, but yours does not sound too hot.

good luck with it.

doesnt really sound like a straight short, but when i swapped my mirage motor for a DSM 4g63 with a big 16g turbo, i had some shorting issues. something simple to see if you have a short or not is just wire a little tail light bulb into the middle of a wire and stick each end of the wire on each terminal in your fuse box, if it lights up then you got current running through that circuit and you probably shouldnt then just check that circuit to see where/why its shorted or drawing current

whew, that was a lot of hard work on my behalf from my last post. Kdog, nice work finding the problem. those little things like that can drive one nuts. again, nice work.