As you all know, I just bought an 84 GS.

I decided to see if it would start, and since the battery is dead, I just hooked up jumper cables for ***** and giggles.

I let the car sit for a minute, then turned the key to on.

Yes! Let there be lights!

Then, I tried to actually start the car. Nothing. Not even a click.

So, I waited a minute.

Tried it again. This time, the engine turned over, but wouldn't fire. No biggie.

So, I turned it back off.

Waited another couple minutes.

Tried again. Again, nothing, not even a click.

Tried again. Nothing.

Tried again. Nothing.

Tried again, it turned over, but wouldn't start.

Tried again. Nothing.

The previous owner said his son (whose car it was) had a similar problem before, and changed the starter solenoid. Then, the car ran/drove fine for a month or two. But then, the problem came back.

So, I'm assuming the starter solenoid is fucked. Is this right? What else could be causing this? Bad grounds? I'm doing the "Pele" mod with the new battery cables, but what else could be the deal? I am going to go through all the fuses and replace them all with new ones, check the contacts, etc, etc. Why? To give me something to do.

Anything else you guys can suggest?

 

Sounds to me like you didn't have enough cranking power from the battery. Put a new or fully charged battery in there. Trust me, it makes all the difference.

 

Yea charge the bat fully first and try again. Last one I had like that I just cut the ends off the cables and put new connectors for the battery and that fixed it.

 

I just bought an Optima Red Top. I'm installing it as soon as I feed the kids dinner. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Brand new battery did nothing.

You turn the key and there isn't even a click. Could the switch be bad, loose, whatever?

 

could be. I'm sure you checked to make sure all of the conections are tight on the starter? There seems to be a common issue with the conector from the harness that conects to the blade on the starter not making good contact, and sometimes not even being on the starter at all.

 

Check the ground cables as well. It could even be a bad hot cable. If it has those replacement terminals on it, those are very prone to fail to make a good connection.
Also, check the small wire from the positive side of the battery, to the fuseable link box.

 

Just out of curiousity, is there a switch somewhere that makes it so the car won't start unless the clutch is to the floor or the tranny is in neutral?

 

No switches like that Ive run into yet. But, my 85 GSL had an ignition switch go out in it and did the exact same thing youre describing. I replaced the switch part (not the lock itself, just the switch on the back of the lock), and never had the problem again. You can test the theroy by jumping power from the battery straight to the starter solenoid either with some spare wire, or one of those "remote starters" you can get cheap at an auto parts store. If it works, you obviously have a problem getting power to the solenoid, not a problem with the solenoid itself.

~T.J.

 

Make sure you check out all the ground wires, bad ground will do that to you. then once you take care of that you could probably wait a few minutes with the key in the "on" position to make sure gas gets pumped to the carb.

 

Do not forget about the fuseable links, Sometimes they dont make a good connection and can cause this.

 

Alright, so it's either:

The ignition switch is bad.
The grounds are bad.
The wiring from the battery to the solenoid is bad.
The solenoid itself is bad.
The starter is bad.
The fuseable links are dirty/bad.

Is that about it?

 

Yep...

I'm looking at the back of an FC ignition switch right now.

If you pull apart the steering column covers you should see the back of the switch where the wires are attached to it...

Use a piece of wire to connect the points between White with red stripe and Black with Red stripe. Although according to the 1985 Shop manual, it's NOT a Black with Red stripe, it's a Black with Yellow stripe...

Regardless, look at the back where the wires go carefully.

You will notice letters next to the wiring points, they're pretty much striaght forward.

B = Battery+
ACC = Accessories
IG1 = Ignition branch 1 (Wipers, Blower, defrost grid, PW Windows, etc.)
IG2 = Ignition Branch 2 (Gauges, fuel pump, ignition coils, alternator, engine stuffs, etc.)
ST = Starter

Just bridge between the Battery and starter...

Alternatively, you can hook a wire to the + terminal of the battery to the ST position on the switch.

Or you can bypass EVERYTHING in the car and go direct from the + terminal fo the battery to the trigger on the starter solenoid...

There will be three terminals on the starter solenoid, attached directly to the starter.

Two HUGE nuts:
One has a short braided wire that goes into the starter body itself.
One has a large wire that goes to the positive battery terminal.

One small spade:
This is the trigger. It goes to the ignition switch. Bridge between it and the + battery terminal. You can use a screwdriver to just touch it and the large nut with the + battery wire on it. Just don't touch the body of the car with the screwdriver.

Just be sure the car is outta gear when you do this. If the starter is good, it WILL crank the engine, regardless of any neutral safety switches which this car doesn't have anyway...

 

Man was I glad to see you found this thread.

We're about to have a massive lightning storm, so I will try this later this evening.

 

Try cranking during the lightning storm
If I remember my "mentor's" old tricks, can't push starting the car bypass the starter or something like that? I'm tired, so forgive any utter stupidity.

 

mine had the same kind of problem. clean the battery terminals. it worked for me.

 

Once you get past the "won't crank over" hurdle (and with the above replies you're bound to do just that) you may crash headlong into the "cranks but won't start" headache.

If the car has been sitting for several months compression may be low (insufficient lube) and the fuel may have gone bad. But first, check all four spark plugs for condition and to see if they're firing when you crank the engine. If this checks out revisit the fuel and compression issues. A shot or two of ether sprayed directly into the carb's primaries may do the trick.

 

I bought 8 new spark plugs, so I'm good to go there. I haven't had time to get out and mess with it... It has a full tank of gas, hopefully it's fresh...

 

make sure the gauge is accurate!

especially if it reads "full" lol.

if it won't crank, and it doesn't even click, the FIRST thing I'd try is to take the car out of gear, get under it, attach a wire (thin is fine) to the ign switch part of the solonoid and then get out from under the car, take your wire and touch it to the + terminal.

it should CRANK! if it clicks and doesn't turn, either the engine is siezed (easy to check and unlikely!) or the starter is bad, or the main + wire is bad. they are aluminum and crappy on 1st gens. You can use a jumper cable to bypass this, just be careful doing it. if it doesn't even click then either the solonoid is bad or the main ground is bad. You can test that by using a jumper cable and running it from the - terminal to the engine block.

if you flood the engine there's no need to replace plugs, just pull them out and clean them with a wire brush.

I like to crank the engine over at WOT with the (leading) plugs out a few times too, just to help clear anything. You can also "listen" for compression, sure you knew that allready though...

a full tank of gas is less likely to go bad than 1/4 or less of a tank.

 

Well, it cranked twice the other day... And the previous owner told me it had solenoid problems. I went to Advance to order a new solenoid just in case, and they said the solenoid is attached to the starter, so I just ordered a whole new starter/solenoid unit.

 

yeah, then get up yo 88 mph and make sure your flux capacitor is working and voila! you are in the future!

 

****, I'd be lucky to get it to go 8.8 mph right now, and that would be downhill in a hurricane.

 

Flux capacitor, knew I was forgetting something...............
I just want a way to get somewhere before the time I left, LOL. That way, when the cops come to my door, I can tell them "it wasn't me, nobody saw me.....I made sure".

 

Ever notice that response comes around quite a bit these past few months for the flux?

And about the cop thing.

 

Yeah. Put that in. That should do ya. Maybe.