Car didn't start

[IowaZR-1]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

Something else comes to mind, and that is while purchasing the relay one might get a plug-in type relay and the matching socket, as opposed to hard wiring the relay in place. That would allow for a quick swap of the relay - if ever needed. Just a thought.

P.

Exactly what I did here. Installed the relay above the battery and used an inline fuse also. I keep a spare relay and fuse in the console. Thanks again Tom and nice picture Paul!

[tccrab]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

I thought I would take the liberty of enhancing Mr. TCCRAB's diagram. The relay is an excellent solution, especially if bypassing the clutch switch is not necessarily desirable to some. (The relay does the heavy lifting, leaving the clutch switch the relative minuscule task of triggering the relay.)

<snip>

Something else comes to mind, and that is while purchasing the relay one might get a plug-in type relay and the matching socket, as opposed to hard wiring the relay in place. That would allow for a quick swap of the relay - if ever needed. Just a thought.

P.

Paul:

Wow.
Just Wow.


Thank you!!
Much better than my funky stick drawing.

TomC
'Crabs

[TFENT]

Can anyone that did this modification take some photos of the relay installed, showing the purple wire and I do not wish to cut the wrong wire. I have this problem now after all the engine work we did. I had to clean it and washed it. Major error on my part. Car only starts after its been warmed up from a bump start. After it cools no start/crank.
Thank you.

[tccrab]

SPDT Relay : (Single Pole Double Throw Relay) an electromagnetic switch, consist of a coil (terminals 85 & 86), 1 common terminal (30), 1 normally closed terminal (87a), and one normally open terminal (87) (Figure 1).

When the coil of an SPDT relay is at rest (not energized), the common terminal (30) and the normally closed terminal (87a) have continuity. When the coil is energized, the common terminal (30) and the normally open terminal (87) have continuity.

Pin #87: Purple wire to the starter
Pin #30: Battery positive 12v
Pin #86: Battery ground
Pin #85: Purple wire from ECM
Pin #87a: Not used


The purple wire lives in the big loom just after the ECM. Peel back the ribbed covering and dig around. There is only one purple wire.
Cut the purple wire carefully noting which end leads down to the starter and which end comes out of the back of the ECM.
Use similar sized wire (10 or 12 gauge if I recall correctly).
Black wire doesn't stand out like bright red or yellow.

I hid my relay under the ECM, Paul (in the picture above) hid his in the battery area.

I modded mine 4 years ago and have *NEVER* had a "Dreaded No Start" again.

TomC
'Crabs

[TFENT]

OK WOW!!

I just did this mod. IT WORKED!!!

God you guys are so great I tell ya. Took all of about 20 mins, a few parts, and reading the "directions" a few times to make sure I didn't screw it up. The beast roared right to life after completing the re-wire.

The only thing I should add to this is there are more then one purple wire in and around the pcm, so I couldn't figure out at first which one to hit. It's the biggest purple wire in the loom after the pcm. It's a light purple wire that's a 10 gauge wire. Not hard to find when you dig for it. I put a voltage gauge to it BEFORE I cut it to see if I was getting voltage out of it when I turned the key. Voltage was 7 volts. VICTORY!!

[tccrab]

Originally Posted by TFENT

OK WOW!!

I just did this mod. IT WORKED!!!

VICTORY!!

Glad to hear it worked for you.



TomC
'Crabs

[Barry]

Ok I have this problem now, well at least it won't crank when the key is turned. What exactly does TCCRAB's solution bypass/fix ?

If I hold the key to 'Start' and then press in the clutch, the voltage drops so I know it's not the clutch switch.

Is there a relay under the instrument panel? I saw someone said it's not there in the '91 (which mine is), but it's clearly shown in the manual as the 'starter enable relay'.

How can I check to make sure it's not the starter itself? Is there a way to jump the terminals at the starter without pulling the plenum ?

thanks in advance,

Barry

[Barry]

hahaha never mind, turned out to be a bad battery. I had no idea it was 5 plus years old, and strange that it just died so suddenly