So the other day i went to leave work and i turned to key to nothing but a little beep noise (i turn the key and it kind of goes brrreepp, its like a half second long low to high pitch beep). Therefore no turning e-shaft or rotors. Nothing at all so im like uh oh my battery is dead, im from Minnesota its been cold and i noticed my battery getting weak. So i get her jumped and she fires right up like nothing.

Next day i get a new battery put it in the car and still nothing at all? Thought maybe everything was dead cuz it was so cold so i threw a charger on it, nothing, tried to jump it, nothing?

I looked over all my battery wires, terminals, alternator wires, fuses. So now im stumped. Im thinking its my ignition switch its self just went because i have had to crank her quite a bit trying to de-flood. You know the infamous S4 flooding issues. Maybe the really really cold weather mixed with a bunch of turning of the key, led to a bad switch?

Any input would be very very much appreciated. I was looking at my ignition switch earlier today and it has like 6 wires on the back of it that all appear to be connected properly, but i dont know what they all do? Anyone have a link for a wiring diagram?

Again, thanks for any input ahead of time.

Joe

(The car is an s4 TII)

 

Did you check that you were getting battery voltage at spade terminal on starter while trying to crank?

 

Im sorry if this is a dumb question. Just to be honest though i have no clue what the spade terminal is. i know my car is getting power because the door lights and dome light still come on. Also i can still turn on my headlights and what not. its just turning the key does nothing. =/

sorry i don't know what that is.

 

The small wire at starter should see battery voltage with key in start position. Big cable has constant batt. +

 

If you dont have a voltmeter and dont want to take car to someone you can try this. Unplug small wire and jump terminal to starter battery cable. Do not touch starter body while doing this! If it now cranks its before starter. set parking brake and leave in neutral, dont run yourself over. And did you hook battery up correctly. If not theres alot more issues to deal with.

 

Check and see if the turn signals and wipers work w/key to on as they should. If they don't then the ignition switch is not receiving necessary voltage. The lights that work are not related to the ignition switch. The wipers, turn signals and starting the car is.

 

The wipers, and turn signals do not work. So what does that mean?

 

thats with the key in the "ON" position. btw. but i checked all fuses? and wiring into the switch appears good, wiring from the battery is good.

 

My suggestion would be to listen to Satch and follow his suggetions. He's the wiring guru on here, I believe that he has the FSM memorized.

Confirm that the ground wire that connects the slave cylinder mounting bolt to the firewall is not faulty. You can easily access that one as it's on top of the trans right behind the engine, look from the driverside of the car. It looks like a black plastic box that one of the slave bolts goes through.

 

You really need a voltmeter to make checking easier. Get the car started (jump if needed), put one lead on the negative battery terminal, and put the other on the B-post of the alternator. Ideally, this should be about 14v. If it's below about 13v, the battery will not charge while the engine in running. If it never charges, you'll eventually drain it. This can lead to a no-start condition, or even cause the engine to stop running if there isn't enough power for the ignition system / ECU.

You can also test the alternator's voltage regulator directly with this test in the FSM:

 

It likely means the ignition switch is powerless as it should have constant voltage on the solid Black wire 24/7. At the ignition switch there is a plug with two wires where one wire is Black/White while the other is solid Black. Remove this plug and check for voltage on the solid Black wire, no key necessary.

 

i was looking at the ignition switch earlier...and i didnt see any plug. There is just 5 or 6 wires connecting to the opposite end of where you put the key on the ignition. where is this plug? and what color is it?

 

The wires should run up the side of the steering wheel closest to the drive side door. There are 4 plugs in all. Not familiar with the color of the plug.

 

there arent any plugs in the steering column, unless they are behind the dash.

Just the wires, going to the switch itself which are all black except one red smaller wire.

 

Not sure how these wires are actually connected to the ignition switch but there should be nine wires in all and if all but one is the same color then someone obviously rewired your car w/o giving thought to how to deal with discerning which wire is which after the fact. Given this, it is really difficult to offer advice. You'll have to run a continuity test on the Black/White wire which "leaves" the engine fuse box and the wires at the ignition switch to figure which one powers up the ignition switch.

EDIT: And make sure the Main fuse in the engine fuse box is good to go.

 

here the back of my ignition. looks factory to me.

 

Yes. the main fuse is brand new from a s5 to s4 alternator switch out.

 

Looks like one of the wires is Blue, plus wouldn't the wires shown in the pic lead to plugs like in the link provided below?

http://www.mazdatrix.com/86-92Electrical-Chassis.htm

 

so i would have to go behind the dash to get to those plugs

 

The pigtail harness coming off the back of the ignition switch is but a foot long so wherever the foot takes you to.

 

Remove the plastic panel at the bottom of the dash, and you'll have a clear shot at where the ignition switch plugs in. Get on your back, and look up.

 

isnt there a ground wire on the strut tower under the coil pack? If i remember right it grounds a couple wires.

 

alright i found the clips. but does it sound like it is the switch itself to all of you guys?

is there anyway the alternator could have been slowly going bad,
Satch you helped me a couple of months ago with my s5 to s4 alt swap and the wiring with that. do you think it could be something to do with the soldered wire into the main relay??

or the alt module going bad or something??

 

Are there anyways i could get the car started besides finding this problem so i can check everything?

 

If the Main Relay was removed from the car you should still be able to turn the engine over if everything else was in proper order. If you found the ignition plug with the two wires I mentioned did you find voltage on the Black wire or not? There is a process which should be very simple to follow which would tell you very quickly what the cause of the problem is but not divulging relevant info does not help a bit.

If the battery has a proper charge, which takes all of ten seconds to check, then the car does not need an alternator to start.