FBorDie

Long story short, I replaced the cars battery leads with new ones because they were old, corroded, and frayed with exposed wire. The car was fine and getting power to the system before. Now with the new connectors I can turn the ignition on and nothing happens. I don't think the new connectors are improperly installed, as I've used these type of replacement connectors before with no issues.

I noticed before I replaced the connectors that the prior owner has pretty much hacked into (poorly) a lot of the existing wiring and the car required both a red and a black cable onto the positive battery post in order to get system power. Is this normal, or not? Before you ask, the black cable does indeed belong on the positive post, as it shorts on the negative. I'm curious if it's a fuse or relay preventing the car from running? I've replaced the main 80A fuse and a broken 30A fuse underhood with no luck. Also, the two little circuit breakers in the drivers footwell area, next to the fuses had one of them (the left one) tripped when I looked at it, though I don't know for how long it was tripped.

Does anyone have any ideas how I could get power back to the car? I don't care if it requires hacking some bits and pieces, as this car will be scrapped anyway.

satch

iTrader: (1)

S4 or S5 or?? There are two cables going to the positive battery terminal. The larger ones goes to the starter and the smaller goes to the engine fuse box. Placing it to the negative terminal could have screwed something up. The side of the engine fuse box closest to the firewall has a Black cable coming from it that drops below the fuse box by about a foot and mates w/a like cable. This cable runs to the ignition switch. W/key to on the wipers and or turn signals work. Do they?

FBorDie

S4, the wipers are off of the car, and the turn signals do not work.

satch

iTrader: (1)

Then the cable powering the ignition switch is not powered constantly as it should. You need to check this cable. Unplug it and one of the two sides should have constant power. As stated earlier, the side of the fuse box closest to the firewall has a Black cable and this cable comes off of the main fuse thus it should have constant power. The fuse box is supplied by the smaller cable coming from the battery. Check the connection to the box from the battery and it should have constant power. If not then that is your problem. If it has power then the main fuse could be bad. Check both sides of the fuse. If both sides are powered then check the cable coming of the back of this fuse for constant power as well.

FBorDie

Well, I spent all day working on the car fixing some things. I was able to get power to the car. The wipers and signals are working, but I cannot hear the fuel pump. As for the starter, you can hear the solenoid click but the starter does not run. The starter motor cranked the engine before any of this happened, and it ran when I took it out of the car and wired it directly to my bench power supply. Below is a picture from underneath the car:


I put a new terminal on the starter's ground, and the other two wires I connected together. I'm thinking perhaps one of these broken wires is for the clutch safety switch, preventing the starter from getting power. Any ideas?

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Nope.
Only the heavy B/Y(?) wire connects to the starter solenoid, the other two go somewhere else entirely (probably sensors on the trans) and none of them are part of the clutch interlock circuit which is inside the car.

Clean the wires so you can see the color(s) and look at the FSM wiring diagram, no need to wonder and guess about this stuff.

satch

iTrader: (1)

You will only hear the fuel pump if you jumper the fuel check connector and w/key to on the pump will turn on otherwise the pump will only turn on w/key to start.

It's important to know whether this car has a factory alarm or not.

The B/Y wire in the pic is likely for the reverse switch

FBorDie

I believe it's a base model, no factory alarm, though I did pull a box out of the dash that was labeled "viper" :/ No Bueno. I need to throw a new battery in my DMM then I'll be checking the clutch safety switch for continuity.

As stated earlier if I shorted something out, I'm wondering if a fuse somewhere blew.

FBorDie

It's definitely a base model, and I don't think the viper alarm has anything to do with it not cranking.

jjwalker

If you yanked the alarm out, it will not start as the alarm has starter kill. I know it was clicking the solenoid before but if you disconnected the alarm you just guaranteed the car will no longer start.

The viper alarm will have large wires coming out of it for starter kill. The Green and Purple wires connect to the starter wire. Splice those two wires together to get the starter circuit complete again. If the Green and Purple wires are small, that means it's an older unit that uses an external relay and you'll need to get at the ignition switch to unify the starter wire.

FBorDie

Are these the wires you're talking about? If so which wires should I be splicing? Purple and Green or Purple/Black and green? Also, I'm not sure why the red and black are cut already

jjwalker

red/white and black is power and ground for the alarm.

What is the model number on the alarm brain?

FBorDie

Viper 600HF. I believe the back of the case listed the pinouts, which I'll be looking at next time I get a chance to work on the car. I'm not really finding much for pinouts online.

jjwalker

That unit uses a separate starter kill relay that isn't built in. If the orange wire on that unit is connected to something, you can track it back to the ignition harness and reconnect the starter wire. If there is starter kill, the relay will have a green and black wires connected to the cut starter wire.

In case you need it, the pinouts are listed in here...

http://www.directeddealers.com/manua...iper/N448V.pdf

FBorDie

I ripped the alarm out, and now the ignition is getting power at all three spots, though the starter solenoid is not. I traced the broken b/y wire above up to the neutral safety switch.

I'm thinking the b/y wire needs to get spliced back together with the other b/y wires. What do you think?

satch

iTrader: (1)

The neutral safety switch does not have that wire color for the wire colors for that switch is B/R and B/G. The switch is located at the very top of the pedal and not lower down where there is a switch for cruise control. B/R has power w/key to start. B/G has power w/pedal depressed and key to start.

FBorDie

I appreciate the help, but I got fed up and since this is just a rusty parts car I drilled a hole in the floor and ran a wire straight from the ignition to the solenoid.

It cranks now, but I've got no leading ignition and a gas line ruptured spewing fuel all over the floor.

satch

iTrader: (1)

Check the Black/Yellow wire at the lead coil for 12 volts w/key to on. If it has zip then check the 15 amp engine fuse in the interior fuse box.

FBorDie

I've yet to check this out, I've been distracted because the car is still not getting any fuel to the engine, so I pulled apart the spliced together fuel lines I've got and I'm not getting any fuel past the brand new filter. I think my cheap replacement pump isn't powerful enough . I'm only getting a little trickle of flow before the filter. Considering this car is going to be scrapped once the 13B is (hopefully) running I don't want to dump much more money into it, so I'll have to find a solution that will work with both my FC and my FB.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I think it's fair to call this thread done considering my initial problem has been solved.