For the past few months the starter solenoid would click but not start the car. I would do that ~ 5 times, then the car would usually start. I found out that I was only getting 7 volts to the ignition side of the starter. When I put 12 volts to the ignition side of the starter the car fired up great. So I wired a relay that was switched by the 7v signal, that would send 12v to the starter solenoid. The car fired up great...

I hit the hatch release switch to put the jack in the rear of the car, and the starter cranked over twice. I put the key in the ignition and fire up the car using the hatch release switch.

Has anyone seen this before, or do those wires come near each other, or do they have relays near each other?

 

The car is a 1991 Z28 350. It was converted from an automatic to a 5spd. The clutch/start lockout is not hooked up, and the trunk release always operates, even when my friend is driving the car down the freeway The car has an aftermarket alarm. I have been driving the car for ~ 2 years and didn't do any recent electrical mods that I can think of that would have caused this.

I do suspect some ground issues in the car as the Tach bounces around or doesn't work some of the time.

I am just looking for any places to start looking for issues

 

Thats some Interesting stuff.. If you find the problem, correct It But make it so You have to press the switch to get it going.. Kinda Like a Secret Kill switch, so your car will never get stolen lol...

 

That is expected behavior, after the modification you performed.
Look at this diagram: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/mkport...wn_release.jpg

The hatch release button grounds the hatch release relay through the Park/Neutral switch and through the starter solenoid (GM was too cheap to add an extra switch). Normally, the starter solenoid has maybe 1/2 ohm or resistance so compared to the 50ohms of the hatch release relay, it's nothing. So the hatch release relay gets almost full voltage and opens the hatch.

By removing the purple starting wire from the solenoid and adding a relay similar to the hatch release relay, the relays now divide the voltage more evenly and if it's 6V and 6V, they both trigger and the hatch opens and the starter turns over.

When you converted your car to a T5, you should have moved the hatch release button pickup from the starter wire to the parking brake ground. That way, you can open the hatch only if the parking brake is set.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

Thanks for the diagram. That is great that GM used the ign side of the starter and the neutral safety for the hatch relay ground Ill re-connect that ground to the parking brake.

 

Hi Lou

I am having a similar issue with my car and I found this really old thread when trying to fix it. You seem like you know alot about this, so if you can be of any help my new post is here