Tom. M

So...I replaced my starter, ign switch and swapped in a bunch of different relays, but none did the trick..and the problem seemed to go away for a while. On the trip over to Spokane for our biannual track attack, it acted up again..and had to push start a couple of times.

So we get to Chris Ford's place, and getting tired of push starting the car..I con Thurston into looking at the fuse panel etc. He pulls the panel and see's some evidence of heating of the wires leading to the starter and we follow the wires out the firewall next to the LH harness and up front to the pin connector and the harness that runs across the front of the engine. Thurston says..it could be two places..that harness across the front..or the connector leading back to the firewall.. Disconnect the pin connector and he shorts it to the power supply..and the starter cranks so it's isolated between the connector and fuse panel. He looks at the starter wire leading into the pin connector and it was severely corroded..cleans it up a bit and plugs the connector back together..and woohoo....starts....

So...pull that pin connector (up near the jump start terminal) and check the condition of the wires and pins.....

Later,
Tom
89GT

Mrmerlin

Hi also dont forget that if you dont have the plastic cover that goes over the pin connector and the Jump terminal every time the car gets wet the connector can possibly get wet and the corrosion will start fouling up the wires, might also be a good ldea to add some Dielectric grease after the connector has been cleaned, Stan

goldknight

I got so much exercise yesterday push startign 928's. After the TA John Davis car stopped cranking. sigh so another push start to get him going then when we stopped at a rest stop i was done pushing. jumped into his fuse panel and molested the relay and she cranked up.

If we ever make that trip without someone haveing some dorky strange problem i will be floored...

Tom. M

Well...spoke too soon.....tried to fire it up Sunday am and it did the same thing. Checked the voltage at the plug (from panel to plug)..and it varied everytime I turned the key..from 0V to 4.5V etc.....in no particular order... when it would read 12.5 V..then it would start..


Always able to crank the starter by shorting pin to the jump start block (positive), so don't think wiring issue from there to starter. When I get the start problem, I disconnect the wiring block and crank the starter by shorting to the jump start terminal...reconnect the block and then it seems to start OK...

I replaced the relay with another one yet again..worked fine for a few starts and then back to the same ole same ole.

So...if the relay is good...wiring behind panel etc is good, could it be something from the ignition switch (this is new already) to the fuse panel? Need to peek at the wiring diagrams.

Help.....

Later,
Tom
89GT

goldknight

next step would be to triger the relay yourself Tom. We make a jumper and use it to crank the motor. if we get it to do that every time its not the power supply,we put the relay back in and make a ground or pos. wire to trigger the relay and crank it that way a few times. if it works every time is not the relay.from there trace back to ign switch and find the resistance.

Tom. M

Just wanted to close out this discussion with the final solution. Seems the 14 pin connector at the jump post had some wires that were corroded (as well as some that rubbed through down near the (former) A/C belt) and were exposed. Cleaned up the corrosion and wrapped the wires. No issues after doing this. Probably voltage drop through the corrosion was the culprit on the starter wires..

(All this work was in relation to my alternator not charging..ended up the excitation wire in the front harness was broken)...

later,
Tom
89GT