Hey guys,

Happened to get an afternoon of work in on my car this weekend, and I ran into a few problems... For starters, it won't. The starter is getting juice, (both at the terminal, and the signal wire (S terminal), however its not getting a solid twelve volts at the S terminal). It does click now, where it didn't before...

The problem is this: when I turn it to start it clicks, then a box in the engine bay starts humming/buzzing, the electrical everything dies (fuel pump stops, lights die, etc) then when I turn it back to ON, the fuel pump sometimes comes back, sometimes doesn't. Now the box that is buzzing is listed as a Regulator in the Haynes manual, but this is an 82, so voltage regulators should be internal, right? what else could this be (hot start assist?) I will try and find a pic with the box in it in a sec.

Thanks for the help,

Matt

 

My Neon did this... it was a bad cable. It started dieing randomly in the city and we'd tow it home, few hours later it was alive for no apparent reason

 

What trim is the car (GS, SE, etc)? and a better description for the location of the mystery box would help too. Thanks.

 

lol...sorry, rookie mistakes because of ... ... ... ...yeah, my brain's just not working after the new year's party

GSL, box is silver, looks like a relay, drivers side (LHD) rear corner of engine bay, there are two small ones, and one BIG one, and the big one is buzzing...

 

Hmm, not at all familiar with this. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to get you straightened out though... Good luck!

 

I would say replace your battery cables/ ground if you havent already. I had a similar problem when it would start sometimes then other times - nada. It ended up being a short in the key ignition harness from a crappy alarm that was installed. I replaced the harness with a parts car one and it fixed my problem. The FSM should give you a list of volatages to check when the key is turned to different positions. It may be worth spraying the crap out of the ignition switch with contact cleaner too.

Im betting on battery cables though in your situation....

 

Check the battery connections and clean them if they're corroded. If you have a volt meter, check voltage drop from the battery post to the + starter terminal, if it's more than .3-.5volts then you need new cables.

 

What is the temperature there? I'd suspect that the aluminum battery cables are either bad or their resistance has gone up in the cold weather. May also be battery post corrosion. Before undertaking repairs, you can check it out with an ordinary voltmeter or multimeter from Radio Shack or Home Depot, etc., cost about $10-15. Check voltage drop between post and cable terminal at both posts. That's easy. Check between negative post and chassis metal. that's easy. Check between pos post and big terminal on starter. That's harder. You probably need a second person to operate the key, or a remote starter switch.

A voltage drop of 1.5 volts is enough to stall a starter on some cars.

Before you begin get a $5 plastic 2-piece battery post brush from the autostore and use it to clean your post ODs and cable terminal IDs. That may solve it. While at the autostore you might want to get a $5 pen sized hydrometer with 4 floating ***** in the stem for testing battery condition and charge-holding ability. I've got one battery now that sometimes doesn't motivate the starter pinion to engage and, sure enough, it only floats 3 *****, so I'll have to replace it soon. Even after prolonged trickle charging it only floats 3 *****. While at the autostore you can also get a small packet of battery post grease at the checkout counter that makes the posts neater and makes for a longer time between uses of that $5 brush, which usually leads to a broken terminal cinchbolt, eventually, necessitating a more serious repair.

 

Will give the cables a try when I get a chance next, I was showing a solid 12 volts at the main terminal on the starter though...

I was doing some reading today, and it sounds like more than one person has experienced the buzzing problem, and it was caused by a bad ground (basically something that is not supposed to be a ground, acting as a ground to the engine... :O )

The only time I wasn't getting a solid 12 volts was between the cable coming from the ignition and the starter, only getting ~8 there, so it may be a problem in my ignition switch too... hope not though, 'cause last time I removed an ignition it got messy... (air tools where involved... )

Thanks for the help guys!

Matt

 

Pics, okay, not my own pics... sorry, I have none

I know I have two different things circled, but I could swear that my car (82 GSL) has the larger box shown in pic 4 (I think thats the voltage regulator though?) if there's no way for that to be, then it's the other relay circled... Hot start?

 

Don't check for available voltage, if you put one lead on the starter + terminal, and one lead on the battery + post while cranking the engine, it'll tell you how much voltage is lost through the battery cable. If it's more than .5v you need new cables.

 

Didn't think of that, will try, thanks!