I put the battery back in my car today and tried to crank it over. Everything works...lights, horn, trunk, windows etc...but the car wont crank. When i turn the key, the temp gauge pegs itself, and all the idiot lights come on, but the starter doesnt turn.

Two things i noticed tho, that may or may not be related to the problem:

1) Theres an orange wire that comes off the POS battery cable. Since I removed the ECm harness, its not connected to anything.

2) Theres a black wire coming off my new steering column thats not connected to anything either. I didnt see one like it when ipulled the old column.

Would either of those 2 things keep the car from cranking? Thanks in advance.

 

yes, at the very least you might want to consider finding where they go and what they do. try trouble shooting the PN or clutch safety switch, make sure the key cylinder is good and the fuseable link is ok. start poking around with a circut tester and see where you have power and where you don't.

 

Orange wire = ECM power (clearly not an issue if you have no ECM)

Black wire = ? The starter wires don't got through the column though, they just hook up to the ignition switch. Shouldn't matter.

You say you replaced the column; has the car ever worked since then? If not, check the ign sw adjustment.

Try jumping the starter terminals with a screwdriver or something.

Has the car ever worked since the ECM was removed? Does this car have VATS? If so, you need to jump the VATS starter relay, and maybe other things too, I don't know much about that system.