So I'm fixing a beatup '88 as it says in my sig. It had been sitting in my driveway for 3 years. 2 weeks ago I put in a new battery and cranked it. It made a sound like it was trying to crank but would not start.

Just today I did some overhauling and changed out all the fluids, sprayed WD-40 into the cylinders in case the pistons were seized, then tried to crank in order to test compression.

The battery's still good, but nothing happened as I turned the key. Then as I kept trying, the dash stopped working so I thought I had blown a fuse or something, but I checked the fusebox under the steering wheel and no blown fuses.

So I'm confused as to why the motor isn't even at least trying to crank. Any suggestions? Looked through the Hayne's manual, no success. Someone suggested the starter has "2 fusible wires" I checked them but couldn't see any fuses.

Any help would be really appreciated!

Thanks,
Ambert

 

check your connection to your starter, follow the wire from the battery to the starter, make sure to double and triple check the grounds are connected, and all the connections to it are clean from one surface to the other. I bet you just rattled a ground loose.

Check all your fusible links, your Hayne's manual should have a map of where all of them should be.

 

So a loose ground would cause all the dash lights to go off? I'm just curious about that, doesn't seem logical if all the fuses were still intact.

 

nevermind

 

Fusible links are not infact actually fuses that are commonly found in the fuse box (blade type). They are actual wires that are designed to burn out in the event of a power surge. On the power wires that go to the solenoid (not the big battery cable, but the 2 smaller red wires), towards the solenoid, feel the red wires, stretch them. If they stretch, 2 things have happened:

1.) You have found the fusible links
2.) They are blown and need replacing

Something I have wanted to try, but never quite got around to it yet (car doesn't run) is replacing the fusible links with in0line blade fuses in the weatherpack holders.

There are 2 ways to view the starter motor. 1st way is from the top, removing the manifold and whatnot. This will make everything really easy to see, but can be a pain to remove. The second is to raise the front of the car up and put in on jackstands. Crawl under the car and look up. You will see the large "coffee can" motor. Just above it is the "pop can" solenoid. Off the pop can are the 2 red wires. It may be kind of awkward as you will have to feel around the coffee can, but I'm sure it can be done.