Ok, so thursday i went to get my car out of winter storage and it wouldn't start. So i initially hooked it up to jump it off my other camaro. After 15 minutes of being hooked up, nothing happened. I mean the car didn't make an attempt to turn over. To make a longer story short, i took the starter out, had it tested and put a new battery in. Well after a new battery and the starter and silinoid being good, no luck. I was wondering if anyone could lead me towards the right direction to go in from here. The car still doesn't make an attmept to start, that means no clicking, nothing. I am running out of patients with this thing.

 

Clean the battery terminal ends well...take them out of the cable and wire wheel them works best. Thats a pretty common problem on these side post battries. If that doesnt work, Id do a continuity/resistance test on the battery cables and make sure you dont have a break or resistance too large to allow for the car to start.

 

I did the whole coke thing and scrubed with a wire brush. Exactly where would i test the cables at?

The thing is the car sat for three straight months til last month when i went to start it and it fired right up. Well this past thursday when i went to start it, thats when the problem began.

 

Using both ends of the cable.

I'd also make sure the ground is good, *check the fuses* (this sometimes produces a *doh* sound from the car owner), make sure the key/switch is energizing everything and then check/test the fusible link that's off the starter IIRC.

 

Are there anymore fuses to check other than the ones on the underside of the dash? When i turn the key over, the fan kicks on and runs like it normally did/does. I just have no idea why it wont start.

 

Where did you have it stored at? Check for rodent damage to any of the wires. Sometimes mice and squirrels like to chew on things. If you are turning the key and the starter is not even clicking then I would say you have a continuity problem between the either the battery & starter or ignition switch & starter. When you turn the key to the on position are all the interior lights and whatnot coming on? Like others said, you need to test the power wire to the starter. connect both cables to the battery. Remove the power cable from the starter (the big one) attach a test light and have someone turn the key. If the light doesnt come on, then you probably have a bad cable. Good luck.

 

i had the same problem with my 89 5.7 iroc. i didn't even have a clicking sound from the starter. my question is, if it doesn't click would it be a loose wire or bad cable, and not the starter?

 

I replaced the power cable and still no luck. Some people are telling me to check the safety switch that attaches to the shifter. Also the car was stored in a garage so i hope i wouldn't have to worry about rodents.
Another thing is i don't have any interior lights such as dash, guages or dome BUT i never had that to begin with. Thats was going to be the next thing i tackled but this came up. Umm... i know that the head and taillights work along w/turn signals. Everything is working like it used to other than it not starting at all. I appreciate everyones help by the way. This place is alot better for info that autozone!

 

I would check that neutral safety switch next. You need to locate the purple wire lead to the starter and get a jump start button and try and start the car. Either that or the old screwdriver across the starter...whichever you feel more comfortable with or have tooling to accomplish.

 

Tomorrow i am going to check all of the fuses under the dash. I'm wondering if there is sposed to be a fuse in every slot in the box or not. My car doesn't have a diagram on the fuse cover like my 95 camaro. So i don't know what all should have fuses.

 

It originally ran though right? I mean, do you think you are missing a fuse? Chances are it is either a fuse in there is blown if thats the case rather than it is completely missing I would think...

 

Yea the car originally ran. I drove it all last spring and summer up til about October. Thats when i parked it for winter. And i went to get it out last thursday and now for some odd reason it doesn't run. I find it to be very odd that it wont run when it started right up last month after sitting roughly three months.

 

Well, I am having intermittant issues with my neutral safety switch that just started one day out of the blue. I would definitely narrow it down to that first. Make sure that isnt the culprit...it may have worked fine a month ago and decided to go sicne then...gotta love electronics :-p

 

Here's everything in one post.
If you tested the starter and its fine there are two simple methods to check for signal wire problems:
1)test the main power wire at the starter(big fat one). Should have 12-13 volts, test to see that there is continuity between the negative terminal on your battery and the copper bar on the front of the starter solenoid that runs into the starter motor. If both of those are good then its starter signal problems.
2) Try to jump the starter with a start button. Hook it onto the main starter power with a clamp at the starter and to the positive post on the battery. If this starts it its deffinately your signal wire.

If its is your signal wire it could be broken in three places generally. The connector on the starter is burnt looking and may not be continous. The ingnition switch doenst make contact to turn the starter over on full forward turn. On maunuals the clutch saftey switch could be out, on autos the neutral start saftey switch could be out. Both of these switches can be bypassed for diagnosis by jumping a wire across thier two terminals.
-Tanner

 

Hey Elephantismo thanks for the info. I will try my luck again tonight and see what happens. Thanks again

 

Well tonight i went over to check the fuses and neutral switch. All the fuses were good and the neutral switch was plugged in. I'm clueless to whats wrong w/this thing.