A got a few questions for you guys.

My Fd's starter is very temperamental. When the car has been sitting for a while, (not been running) and i go to start it, the solenoid will click but the car will not start. I do it maybe 2 more times and then the car will start up. After the car reaches running temperature, and it is shut off, it will not start back up until the car has cooled down. No matter how many times i try to crank it, it will just keep clicking without and success. So me and my father went on a quest to find the problem. Here is what we know so far.

• The ignition is new.
• We pulled out the ignition/solenoid and found out that both are working properly.

However, one huge thing that we discovered was that my clutch wire was not connected. So all this time the car could be started up without the clutch being held down. could this cause the problem? The only reason i felt that this wasn't the problem was if the car has started up before with this not hooked up, then it has to be bypassed, right? Basically im just looking for any insight from you guys. All and any help at all is appreciated.

 

Only a few possible causes of a click during start-up attempts.

1. The starter solenoid has a burnt spot on a brush (inside the solenoid)
2. Poor grounded engine
3. Poor powered starter
4. Failing battery
5. Ignition switch is shorting inside - this is the one i found on my car

 

After looking at it some more this afternoon we got some readings and found that the S terminal on the solenoid isn't constantly getting at least 10 volts from the ignition switch. So we proceeded to swap the old solenoid with the new one, hoping that would solve our problem. But once we had the new one in, it too was not getting enough voltage all the time, causing the car to click.

Any ideas on why i can't seem to get a constant voltage?

 

Also, does anyone know the difference between the clutch switch and the starter interlock switch?

 

You should try a different battery or charge the one you have now, you state the car has been sitting a while. This has happened to me before and after I charged the battery it was fine.