91 galant vr4 wont start, wont even crank, just clicks someone help

[MellowVR4]

could also be the little connector on the starter sometimes that doesnt make a good contact /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif it happends to me sometimes

 

How do I get to the starter, top or bottom of motor?

 

[AnotherNewb]

I would get out my multimeter and verify battery voltage and compair it to the starter trigger wire while having someone turning the key. If you see voltage at that wire matching your battery voltage or very close then you know you need a starter. If not, then you have either a bad battery, cable, or your alarm is the culprit. Try googleing the model number and Find an installation guide and see if you can bypass the wires for the anti start feature.

 

[toybreaker]

On the passenger side unibody section in front of the strut are a few mission critical harness connectors. They are somewhat hidden by the airflow meter and other stuff, so they're hard to see.

Circled in red, the rectangular connector is the power distribution connector for the car.

Circled in yellow, the triangular connector is the connection down to the starter solenoid.



If they are both plugged in, and the car won't crank, (as in rotate when you have the key in the start position) unplug the starter harness and check for power at the car side of the harness while the key is in the start postion. (you're checking the black with yellow stripe wire)



If there's nobody home on the car side of the starter solenoid harness, unplug the clutch down switch and try again. The switches go bad, and the little yellow plastic button that depresses it also gets broken. This will prevent the starter from operating. Unplugging the switch opens the interlock circuit, and will allow the starter to operate any time the key is in the start position.

[edit]

found this old post

[/edit]





If you want a quick go/no go test, jumping positive battery voltage onto the mate of this ^^^connector^^^ is the easiest way to "jump" the system. Note it's position in the connector, and jump the mate to this connector using an alligator clip on the end of a wire. **I would be leary of doing this, as the current required to pull the starter solenoid in to actuate the starter motor is pretty large, and you may damage the pin in the connector. (once would probably be okay, but I wouldn't make a habit of it)


The hard way to "jump" things is to unplug that wire at the starter, then plug another wire onto the small connector, and then touch that to the positive terminal on the battery.

If you're feeling froggy, you can also just short accross from the positive starter feed wire from the battery to the small terminal with a small screwdriver, but there's gonna be sparks! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Make absolutely sure the car is in neutral before doing this!!!



Here's a pic of the whole starter sub-harness to give you an idea of what you're working with.

Good luck!

 

Thankyou everybody, for all the great help, so it turned out to be an unplugged wire, got it running, happy as hell, thankyou everybody

 

[FlyingEagle]

Very happy to hear it was a simple issue. Now you also have one less thing with the old alarm now removed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Big cheer to toybreaker, that was a great writeup detailing the starter with all of the related interface.