mcbitchman

my 84 Firebird v6 SE w/ manual trans has a starting problem. Sometimes when you go to start the car it sounds like a Ford solenoid w/ a bad battery (click click click) but wont turn over. I've replaced the starter and checked out all cables etc. This problem seems to be intermittent. I've heard there is a starter relay behind the left kick panel.... and that could be bad. what gives w/ that? And if so, could this be the problem? thankd Doug

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

There should be no relay on your car, the only thing that should be between your ignition switch and the starter solenoid is a neutral safety switch.

If there's an aftermarket security system that could very likely have a relay that interrupts the starter wire, and that could be installed just about anywhere, but likely near the steering column wiring under the driver side dash.

aliceempire

iTrader: (14)

The cars that have a starter relay behind the kick panel are later cars that were equipped with the VATS. Next time it doesn't start. Check the purple solenoid wire in the starter. Does it get power? These starters are notorious for these problems. Mine has had this problem with every starter I've had in it. One of these days I'll move to a LT1 starter.

mcbitchman

thank you,,, but,, no,,, no aftermarket security sys on this car.... and the neutral safety switch seems to be working OK.,. although I will give it a more thorough inspection. can't figure out the weird noise though...

mcbitchman

ok ,,,,,,, you're saying the purple wire "in" the starter? how would one check this w/o taking the starter apart? wow,,, all the starters have had problems... yikes I just put a "new" not rebuilt one in and still does this... not all the time though... guess I need to go over all the wires involved. thanks for the reply....

aliceempire

iTrader: (14)

Sorry. That's supposed to be "on the starter". It's the wire that's powered coming from the switch. Regardless, it's purple and it's the only wire on the small terminal on the starter.

mcbitchman

yes I understand most GM products have used the purple wire for a long time as the solenoid accentuate hot wire.... that's Ok ,,, I did go into the neutral safety switch ,,, boy what a weird apparatus that is ,,,, and reset it... also took the battery in (just bought it six months ago) and it was bad so that might explain some things... we'll see what happens in the next day or so... funny but I worked for a tranny shop some time back and figured out that many of the calls for malfunctioning overdrive was caused by the brake switch having moved due to it being made of nylon and the threads failing in the metal "nut" so it would get out of position... the fix is to use a worm drive hose clamp to hold it in place no matter what happened to the threads... and the overdrive works again... hey thanks a lot for answering my questions,,,, gotta love this place.... Doug

Gfunkill

i had a problem similar to yours. I did a T5 swap into my car, and like the dummy I am, I wired the clutch switch with some scrap wire that was too thin. Long story short, it was messing up the voltage, so I just tied the purple and yellow wires together, and no more problem.
SO, after saying all of that, since your car is a manual, maybe the switch is going bad. If you bypass it like I did, just don't forget to clutch it when ya start it!

mcbitchman

Exactly what I did,... the switch is kinda funky and did fail and what a bummer to get it out of there,,,, also the turn signal indicator lights are almost impossible to get at,,, yikes my back hurts... thanks for the reply