Starter not working correctly, need help...
 

Ok so when i try to start the car, it just makes one click, flywheel isnt turning at all. Once when we tried starting it, sparks came from the starter area. After about 10 or so tries, it finnaly starts, but it sounds bad/different then it usualy did. Also, the other day on the highway, she just quits on me. Blew an ign. fuse, so i traded another 40 amp and that got me home ok. What is going on here? do i have the connections on wrong? Does anyone have any pictures of what it should look like?

thanks,
mike

Do what I do, open the hood and stare for a while, then take it to someone in the know!

Definitely got something grounding out follow some wires out of the starter either that or buy a new starter. I have a 1g factory service manual on PDF that I can e-mail to you if you want?

i had the same problem... what happened is the bolts that hold the starter on came loose and the starter backed off so it would no longer touch the fly wheel and the ground strap that is held on with one of the bolts was also loose because of this so the sparks would fly when i tried to turn the car over.

could this be why the rest of my electrical components are going haywire too? My coolant temperature gauge is not working, everything dims when the rpms are low, driver side automatic seatbelt doesnt work, etc...

That is why I am guessing ecu. The coolant temp gauge will randomly go to C, the radiator fans do not work, the starter sparked, etc. Just pull the ecu! You can see if it is an Eprom at the same time and I have one you can try to see if it fixes anything. The starter only sparked once that I saw. When you turn the key, the starter clicks but does nothing. It sparked once. Then we messed with it for a while and it started. Lose wire or something??? Since there are several electrical problems starting to go haywire, I would check the ecu first. Check the mounting bolts to see if it is grounded but I do not see how that would cause sparks to fly. If I remember correctly, James said that the rubber cover is still on the possitive side. There would have to be another poser source that is grounding in there. Possibly starter terminals are corroded as why turn= nothing and it will finally start but the sparks would not convince me of this.

ok i took the starter off, and the negative connection was loose. i cleaned off the grounds and it has been starting fine now.

I will go take out the ecu to see if it needs caps/and is eprom.

Another question. I was testing fuses under the dash, and only a few of them lighted up. The ones that didnt light up were still good fuses though, and the acc.'s that they run currently dont work. Example, Driver side automatic seatbelt doesnt work. but the fuse is not popped. hope the ecu is the problem, but if anyone else has any ideas, lmk.

Just make sure you try a good ecu when you swap otherwise you feel twice as dumb later. Trust me.

He is trying mine now. I think his is a burnt.

ok your ecu worked a little bit, but didnt fix any of the problems. then when i went to start the car again, she wouldnt start at all. turned over but didnt fire. then i put my ecu back on and it ran fine (except for all the fucking electrical problems). Im going to check on the power for some of those fuses.

make sure all your grounds are hooked up... atleast 2 staps should be goin from the block/head to the firewall/frame and one from the negative on the battery to the motor and from the battery to the firewall. my gauges, lights, and stereo would all flicker when i didnt have 2 gound cables hooked up from putting the engine in. if that doesnt help then its gotta be the ECU

Its definatly not those grounds, i cleaned all the grounds in the engine bay yesterday. Damn dsm's im getting really pissed.

where are the fusible links located on my car? anyone know?

The main fusible link box connects directly off of the positive post of the battery. It's the small one.

Anyone know where the underdash fuse box gets power from? This would most likely help him out.

The ecu does not ground where it bolts up. It grounds through a wire running in and out or it. as far as where the fuse box gets power, it gets power from the alternator when the car is running and from the bat(+) when its not running. Check if you have like aldata or mitchell or something of the sourt even the owners manual and see whats in common with the electrical parts that are not working propperly. So if say the passenger side belt works it possibly could be on the same circuit and if that works you wouldn't need to check the power or fuse for that belt. I would start with somewhere on the ground after that because you would be chassing goast's if you went for power or a fuse. Do yourself a favor and save sometime check the common on that circuit (could be that other belt, sig lighter,dome light who knows) and check if it works.

Kevin

I have recently pulled the door panels off to pull the windows out for tinting, so it could be related to that. Also, i re-did my a-pillar gauges, so i took that apart where the automatic seatbelt deally is, so i will check that too.