cezonetheillest

alright so i am working on a car for this guy i know and i rebuilt the motor, did 6port turbo conversion, fmic and all that.

well we got the motor in and i got everything hooked up and when i turn the key to run it will not engage the starter. no clicks from the starter or anything.

now the car was originally an 88se. the car had an aftermarket alarm that was spliced into the factory alarm and the wiring in that whole car under the dash was a mess. i replaced the harness's but while i was cleaning everything up i just pulled the factory alarm out and just tossed it.

i have been reading and there supposed to be a relay where the blue connector(that has a black wire in it looped over) thats under the trail coil would be. is it possible that i am getting some sort of starter cut because i took out the factory alarm?\


i took this from a post of hailers: it seemed to cover some basics

Do your headlights go up and down in a regular fashion and are the lights bright? YES

When the key is to ON do your fuel and volt gauges move. NO

Do your turn signals work. YES and hazards

Do your idiot light light up.NO

the interior lights all light up also, sunroof works.

thanks for any help

HAILERS

The MAIN FUSE that is bolted into the engine bay fuse box is blown, OR single wire that is colored black, that runs from the engine bay fuse box to the ignition key is pulled apart about six inches below the engine bay fuse box. It's a single wire blade connector. Black in color.

The headlights lighting up and rising/falling indicate the battery terminals are on good.

The lack of the starter working and no Warning light in the Warning light cluster mean there's no power to the ignition key/switch. So that's why I say bad Main fuse or open circuit on the black wire from the engine bay fuse box to the ignition key.

cezonetheillest

ok i will try that out. i was reading some of you other post and the car did have a factory alarm installed but while i was cleaning the wiring i ended up throwing that away. could that be part of the problem?

i also did the test with the little blue plug under the trailing coil with the black/white wire to the batter and the starter would crank. so im trying to get another starter to test this out.

cezonetheillest

alright. so i guess the starter was just stuck from being in storage for so long cause i kept running it from the it was just going click..click...click and the finally it started turning over every time.

so i rechecked the fuses and i read in another one of your post that the cluster wont work with a bad meter fuse and what do ya know it was blown. it was the only fuse i didn't pull out.

but now that all of that is working the idiot lights still wont come on. now i remember in my 87 tII that when i had like an FB05(or FB01) the idiot lights wouldn't come on until the car was on and when i thought it had gone out on me then i swapped in either the FB05 or the FB01 and then they would come on while i had the key to on. so i still haven't figured this one out yet.

HAILERS

Warning lights not coming on can be a couple of things. The WHITE/black wire on the back of the alternator is what initially causes those lights to come on when the key is ON, engine OFF.

It puts a gnd on a relay in the CPU which in turn puts a ground on a wire in the Warning light assy. So if that small two wire plug is off, then you'll get no waring lights. If the plug is on the alternator, then it's likely the solder joints on the Warning Light assy have what is called cold solder joint. You have to reflow the solder AT the pins the elect plug attaches to the warning light assy.

It could be a bad relay in the CPU. Not likely though. To prove its bad/good you just have to pull the plug off the CPU and put a gnd on the wire that goes to the Waring Light assy with the key ON. The lights in the warning light assy should light up if the assy is good. If they do light up, then it's either the relay in the CPU or the signal from the alternator small plug.

Another way is to pull the plug off the alternator. PUt a gnd on the WHITE/ black wire and the warning lights should light up if everything downstream is good (key ON).

Ooooooooh! Someone actually found the Blue plug and jumpered it. Wheeeeee!

But if the starter worked each time you put batt voltage on the black/white wire, then I would have assumed the starter and it's solenoid were good. Oh well.

But I've had a bad starter myself last week. Power to the black/white did nothing. Starter was bad. The brushes were worn down to the nub. I took the brushes out of a brand new non turbo starter and put them on my Turbo starter, and the little dickens spins like a champ now. I ordered new brushes from NAPA this day and will have them tomorrow. Nowhere else on God's green earth carrys starter brushes IMHO. I've looked around. Nowhere else but NAPA.

By the way, smacking the failed starter with a hammer would make it work for a while.

That' s all I know about starters.

cezonetheillest

lol. i wouldn't of thought about it but while i was trying to search the problem that little blue plug pic came up in almost all of your reply post.

i was able to get the idiot lights working. its been a while since i drove my own 7 but i can remember that the heater blower motor would blow with just the key to the on position. for some reason its not doing it now. any thoughts on this?

Chris Boots

Have you checked the main relay. Its right behind the trailing coil towards the fire wall. That was the problem in my '88 SE.

cezonetheillest

alright so i have finally gotten all this figured out.

the starter solenoid was just stuck from sitting for so long and the heater problem was just that the "cooling fan" fuse wasn't installed and that one of the grounds was not in place. i do thank all of yall for your help.