Need HELP FAST with grounding, car DOESN'T start.
 

We replaced the negative battery cable and we are absolutely sure its hooked up correctly. But now the car doesn't start or even try to start. All the interior and exterior lights still work just fine, but when you turn the ignition to ACC the radio doesn't have power, and when you turn it to start, it doesn't do anything, doesn't try to crank, or even make a click. We checked the fuses in the engine bay and all the interior fuses that we thought could possibly matter. Any ideas?

Ignition switch. They do wear out and need to be replaced.

If you end up replacing it, make sure that to rekey it to match the doors so you don't end up with two keys.

yah but wouldnt it be a really weird coincidence that the ignition switch goes out right when we decided to do this?? is there any way to check and know for sure that it is that?

Not necessarily wierd. Stronger current in the new cable could have pushed the old worn out switch over the edge.

even though it never even tried to turn over at all? well... is there a way to test this to know if i have to buy a new one or not?

test the wires at the switch, before replacing it.

yah we just figured it out from reading the FSM

any other ideas of problems it could be?

I'm no electrical expert, but if what I am suggesting happened actually did happen, it occurred silently in the instant you actuated the switch with the new cable installed.

I think the FSM (Factory Service Manual) indicates a way to test the switch. But it's not that hard to diagnose based on the year/mileage of the car and the looseness in the switch.

When I had my switch replaced, the new one seemed much tighter. It made me realize how loose the original was. I replaced at about 115K miles.

do you have 12 volts at the white/red at the switch?

I knew a Yoda would step up. Thanks.

we're testing the switch right now

if it turns out to not be the switch, though, any ideas on what else it could be?

does the car crank? Is the starter getting voltage?

Hmmm. Better recheck all your connections. Then check your starter if its not the ig switch.

Good luck!

no cranking whatsoever

we checked the stuff the FSM said to for the ignition switch, and the connector with K1, K2, L, and E on it had no continuity, but everything else had continuity with what it should've... so i guess that means my ignition switch is dead right?

does the new neg wire go to the engine, body, or both?

this is my car btw, in case you anyone was wondering...


the old neg wire went from the terminal to the body and then to the back of the engine... so what we did is go from the terminal to the body, and then another cable on the same body ground from there to the back of the engine


but... actually, when we first did it since the old neg wire only had one wire that went to the ground and then to the engine with just a ground/connector/adapter thing for the body, we didnt know how to hook it up, so at first we had the neg terminal wire go from the terminal to the engine, and then the body ground wire from the body ground to the neg terminal, nothing worked, so then we switched it to how we have it now and it still didnt work


what's weird is that all the lights (headlights, brakes, hazards, interior lights, door lights) all work and turn on, but then when you turn it to acc or on in the ignition, nothing happens and no lights on the dash or anything come on

Nope, nope, and nope again. What has happened is that one of two things has happened. Wnen changing the battery cable you inadvertantly popped the MAIN FUSE which is the 80amp fuse in the engine compartment, or seeing as how you say you checked the fuses, you have pulled apart what the fsm calls X-23 connector. It's located about six inches to one foot below the fuse box in the engine bay. That single, large gauge wire that runs from x-23 to your ignition switch, feeds the ignition.

Here: Go look under the dash. See your ignition harness and how its about a foot long or better and has three connectors? See the two wire connector? One wire is BLACK and the other is Black/White. Get your meter out and see if there is 12v on the BLACK wire. That Black wire is coming from x-23 connector that I described above.

And or in conjunction with my above post: You could remove the large gauge wire from the alternator. Put a meter on the wire. Do you have 12v? You should. It's spliced into the Black wire mentioned in the above post by me. You need to remove the wire from the alternator to prove this though. No key on etc. Just pull the wire off and see if it has 12volts. NO 12v....then x-23 is pulled apart or the eighty amp fuse is blown.

alright, ill check those things then before i go and buy a new ignition switch...

but it seems like the ignition switch is bad anyways, considering that one whole connector has no continuity with anything else but the other connectors do

OK I looked at his car and I found a black connector (looks like about a 10 gauge wire) about 6 inches under the fuse box in the engine bay that was unplugged, I see it could have easily came unplugged while we were working because it doesn't lock when you plug it in, it just slips right off if you pull on it even a little. I remember we looked there before but there are like 3 other connectors that are unplugged around that area that don't seem to connect to anything, so I guess we didn't notice that one had something go to.

Anyway, so I plugged that in then checked if there's 12v at the alternator, which there was, then I unplugged the connector, but there was still 12v at the alternator.

So... with the x-23 connector still unplugged I went and checked for 12v on the ignition harness red/white wire or black wire before the connector (same thing). It didn't have any power, as expected. Then I plugged in the x-23 connector again and checked the ignition power, now we've got 12v.

I just need him to bring his keys over to see if it'll start now.

Yup. X-23 feeds the key/ignition and therefore the starter in turn.

Looking at the alternator wire disconnected ...was to see if 12v was there. If it was...then X-23 was connected up. IF not...X-23 was open.

Here's a schematic of the starting system on a turbo car, non turbo similar. See X-23? See how it splices with the alternator wire???? Makes sense what I said above now, right??

This is a common problem on this forum.......meaning the X23 being disconnected resulting in no rotation of the starter. It's not a unique problem, especially if someone says he's been messing around the fuse box/battery cables.

SCHEMATIC: https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...&postid=914418https://www.rx7club.com/forum/attach...&postid=914418

He came over and his car started, thanks hailers and everyone, job well done

Yes thank you everyone, and thanks to brandon (maynard) for letting me leave my car at his house, figuring out what was wrong, and saving me the money i woulda spent on a new ignition switch :D

Let me know...oops..damn