So I'm going along this morning ready to go to school, the car is working fine yesterday, then the car turns over once this morning real strong like normal, then...Nothing. The car doesn't turn over weakly or anything, just silence. I checked the battery, still good (headlights/etc work) and checked all the connections, but I can't figure it out. I looked through my haynes and chiltons manual and did all suggested things but no luck with anything, what else should I check? I really want to get the car running again for tomorrow so I can head to the track, but at this point it doesn't look very good If the starter is bad what is an ideal replacement? OEM or after market?

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84 stock Z-28 V8 305 H.O.
1/8 10.328@66.06
1/4 16.246@80.82 phear!

 

Does everything else work?

There are 2 fusible links, each of which feeds about half of the circuits in the car. Check to make sure that everything else that you can test is still there; radio, wipers, power windows, etc. If about half of the stuff is out, it's a fusible link. If it all works, it's most likely the starter.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I just doublechecked everything on the car. It's all working except for the starter which earlier was cranking strong. Possibly there's a wire off/bad, but I'm going to try to hotwire it tomorrow to at least get it home from school. If the starter doesn't work still after putting power to the distributer then I guess I'm SOL and will need a new starter. I just wish they weren't so darn expensive :-/ How would I go about checking the ignition switch to see if that's working? Might it be a problem with the actual ignition?

 

The distributor has nothing to do with the starter.

Put a test light or voltmeter at the S terminal of the starter (purple wire) while somebody turns the key. If you get 12V, then you need a starter. They're not particularly expensive, maybe $35 or so.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I'll have to check that, but I'm thinking if I hotwire the car by powering the distributor so the ignition fires then I'll be able to at least drive it home so I can work on it easier. I'll definately check the voltage asap, I only mentioned the cost because I was thinking of putting in a short "racing" starter to go with my headers I'm planning on getting.

 

Have you tried stating in NEUTRAL instead of PARK? The neutral safety interlock switch make have failed. If you have a manual trans, check the clutch safety interlock switch.

Check the wiring at the "S" terminal at the starter.

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Later,
Vader
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Justice and Freedom will Prevail

 

The same thing happened to my car yesterday. I thought it was the ECM since I was playin around with it the other day but i know it works b/c the fuel pump and other things work. At firt the engine did not crank, but after it cooled down outside I tried again and it would crank but not keep cranking, like the solenoid that pushes the gear out was not pushing. It's probably a bad starter.

 

Does anyone have a diagram (drawing) of what I'd do exactly to bench test the starter? Someone was telling me put a nail between the 2 connectors while someone turns the key but that doesn't seem right... There might be a short in one of the wires I'm thinking, or it might be laying against something resulting in its ultimate demise as I did for a while hear a rapid rattle or knocking when I'd start the car as if something was rattling in the dash. Perhaps a loose wire? Previous owner made kind of a mess of the wiring, hopefully he didn't mess with the ignition system :-/

 

Two main things can fail in a starter.

The most common is the solenoid. The solenoid is a heavy duty contact that applies the battery voltage to the starter motor. It stops working if the pull-in coil fails (never closing the contacts) or the contacts are to "dirty" (not allowing ample current to pass through). Placing a "jumper" between the two solenoid posts bypasses this contact. This is where people tell you to use a wrench or something between the two posts to try and solve your problem. I personally would look for a safer way to do this, like using jumper cables. If you try doing this, put the key in the "run" position, keep the car in "park", apply the e-brake for safety then jumper the two posts (no-one is needed to turn the key to start). If the starter doesn't turn then apply then jumper between the battery and the second post (the one w/o the batt cable attached to it) on the solenoid. If that still doesn't turn the starter look at this...

The second failure of a starter is when the starter motor coil breaks. A starter is just a short duration electric motor. So I don't turn this post into an EET term paper lets just say that if the motor's coil breaks, the motor will not turn. Now this might sound crude, but beat on the case of the starter with a hammer a few times and try cranking it again. Give this a try about 5 times, hitting it harder each time (NOTE: hit the case... NOT the solenoid). Sometimes a loose coil wire will be vibrated back into place (temporarily) when you do this. You can try this first because it might also knock some crud off dirty contacts in the solenoid and allow you to start your car.

Good luck!

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1985 Trans Am - 305TPI AT
SLP Cat-Back - Welded subframe conns
misc engine mods

[This message has been edited by dbarkley (edited September 14, 2001).]