im having trouble starting my car. it started fine before i did the slave, master cylinder and hose. after i changed all of them the interlock switch went. i bypassed it by connecting the black with red stripe wire to the starter. when i try to start it, it clicks for a sec or two then the whole car goes dead. like i tripped a breaker or something. i have to disconnect the battery in order to reset power in the car. does anyone know what's going on? i ve never had this type of problem before. the battery is good and when ive had bad starters go there is still power in the car just the starter doesnt do anything. anything help is much appreciated.


91 rx7 n/a 5 spd

 

usualy this is caused by a bad conection or ground. i know my car dose that some times becuase my lead conector is all messed up, all i need to do is knockit around and power will come back and it will start.

 

could it be the ground that is gets bolted on the slave cylinder or the main from the battery? thanks

 

dont jumper it. thats a fire trap. go to a junk yard and grab a new interlock switch and connector if needed. check all of your fuses. my first guess on the starter is that its shot. it may have been working great a few days ago but it has to go bad something. a new starter runs about $70-100 with core trade in. take the starter, alternator, and the battery to autozone or oreileys and have them all tested (free testing).

if the interlock switch was bad the starter would still turn. it just wouldnt turn the engine.

 

thanks for the help. ill pull the starter but why would all the power go dead in the car after a few clicks? is there a master relay or something that needs to reset by disconnecting the battery?

 

it sounds like your starter is dead and may have shorted out the battery try using a battery out of another car that u know is good... i just went through the same deal and i ended up haven to rebiuld my starter there isnt anything you should have to reset after you replace the battery

 

its either gonna be a dead starter or you didn't connect a ground back in place. just like the ppl b4 me said. you should be able to take the starter to any corporate retail autoparts store and they will test it for free. good luck.

 

bad battery/discharged battery
bad battery cable connection
bad ground from battery to starter


those are your possibilities and things to look at.

 

It sounds like nothing more than a bad battery terminal. One or the other.

About the interlock switch. If you just pull the connector off it, then jumper the two wires in the harness plug, the circuit is now made. Nothing more is required other than turning the key to Start.

IF the whole car went dead, that is the only reasonable cause of the problem. Even if you lose the power wire to the ignition switch, you would still have headlights and they would open/retract,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if the batery terminals were good.

 

I JUST had this EXACT same problem with my celica. the starter would click, and then all the lights would go out. Then I would mess with the negative battery terminal and it would magically start after a few tries.

all I did to fix it was clean the contacts on the battery and clean the grounding to the chassis from the negative battery terminal. I just used a wire brush, it was pretty rusty but thats all.

then I jumped in the car and it started right up no problem!

 

thanks everybody. i'll definitely look into everything tomorrow.

 

idk if you ever got this problem figured out but i was having the same problem in my 87 after buying a brand new starter and it ended up all i needed to do was clip the connections on my battery cables and reconnect the fresh ends to the terminals. after that mine started fine.