Okay, this evening I decided I was going to get rid of the alarm that somebody had installed before me which seemed to be about 15% disconnected already, (Viper 600HF, complete with starter kill relay). Anyway, I had gotten about 95% of the crap out of there and then directed my attention towards a dangling wire (not even taped off) that is spliced to a light green wire that goes up along the outside of the steering column (as far up as I can see). It's definitely one of the thicker wires down there. Now, the stranger thing is that I can see this wire's matching piece (the light green) which originates from a blue connector up on the steering column and is then spliced directed to the wire that goes to the starter via an 'extension' wire.

How was this supposed to work from factory? If I were to connect this light green wire together with itself again, what happens with the starter wire? ... because I don't see any other loose ends, where should it originate? The car does crank, but I hope somebody can help me clear this up. Thanks.

 

After doing some more research I think that the starter relay may have essentially been bypassed after whoever had the car before me decided to get past the starter kill relay from the alarm (but not remove it). If that is the case (and is possible?), what should I expect to see? I'll post pictures later today.

 

I took some pictures this afternoon... the labeling should be pretty descriptive combined with the posts above. Does my '87 have an starter enable relay b/c there's no VATS system? Don't see it in the year specific wiring diagrams.

 

As far as I can tell, you are correct. it should be the starter wire

In a VATS car, it goes from the IGN switch (blue connector), to the starter relay(factory starter kill), to the P/N switch, to the starter

Colors change from year to year so its hard to say a definite. Check by turning the key to crank. You should see 12v on the dangling wire, but only in crank

Reference:
http://www.austinthirdgen.org/mkport...m_pass-key.jpg
http://www.austinthirdgen.org/mkport...n8_starter.jpg

 

pm me your e-mail i will send you the complete wiring diagram for the 90 - might be helpful.

 

tony: Thanks. I have the Helm's manual for the '87 for all of the wiring diagrams, but can't seem to find a wire of the appropriate gauge that makes sense (or one whose identity I don't already know).

Pocket: Thanks, I didn't know the blue connector was the ignition switch, hopefully that will help narrow it down a little. My car doesn't have VATS, my research says that it started in '88?

I have another thread going about a radio harness that the PO hacked to death. But it turns out he didn't stop there, the wires to the gear selector switch have all been hacked too, so I'm going to pull all of the interior this weekend and trace wires. So if somebody has the car side of the gear selector switch, contact me please.

He's hacked the 10-12 gauge yellow wire to death, at the gear selector switch he cut and ground the return from the hatch relay, and the line from the ignition switch as well. If I get it figured out this weekend I'll post back, maybe it will help someone else.

 

Okay, so I sorted out this problem over the weekend. The wire in question was the starter wire (actually yellow, I guess my color identification isn't so good). Anyway, whoever wired up the mess ran their own 16 gauge wire (instead of 10) directly from the cut wire from the ignition switch through the engine bay to the starter which explains why I had no explanation for an extra wire! Why they just didn't tap into the factory starter wire under the I/P I have no idea. I found the factory starter wire cut about 10 inches from the starter. So I ripped their wire out and spliced in the appropriate gauge wire to the starter. Turns out the P/O must have had an aftermarket shifter like B&M installed, because the connector to the gear selector switch was totally missing and the return ignition line wired from the hatch release relay was sent to ground. I pulled the connector out of a junkyard and now have everything wired correctly on the first try! The Helm's wiring diagrams are worth their weight in gold.