This all relates to a '92 Firebird V6.

Okay, so this all started because my left turn signal came loose and fell off, somehow in the process the wires crossed and fried a couple fuses. No biggie, so I replaced the fuses and I headed to work.

Upon leaving for the night, I noticed a 14ga blue wire hanging down by the pedals. I get in, turn the key, and while the dashlights come on and the gauges are all active, the car does nothing, no crank, no spark, nothing.

Figuring the blue wire is the problem, I trace it back. Turns out the blue wire is a splice, run through a drilled hole in the firewall. Apparently this was a problem before. Anyway, the original wire is also 14ga, but Yellow, and it leads to the end of the Starter. I've scoured the forums for something relating to a yellow 14ga wire from the starter and can't find anything, and I can't get down to the starter to find out which terminal this wire is connected to, but it is on the extreme end of the post.

Looking through wiring diagrams, I figured it must be the fabled Purple S Terminal wire, and attempted to hook it up as such, piggybacking it on the purple wire on the CRK 3A fuse in the fuse block, no luck.

When I run the wire to a hot lead the starter cranks but the engine won't turn over, I think this probably has a lot to do with the rest of the car not being primed (fuel pump switch, etc.) while hotwiring it. I can't for the life of me figure out where this wire goes, there aren't any obvious missing connections under the driver's side dash, but if anyone knows anything about a yellow post wire for a 92 Firebird starter, some assistance in locating it's proper home would be greatly appreciated.

I honestly have to have this car working ASAP but definitely by Tuesday night, it's parked in front of a store and I fear it'll be towed soon, and because I need to drive from here in Sacramento to San Francisco Wednesday morning to pick up my fiancee.

Thanks in advance,
Brian
(916) 238-4347

 

Okay, so I found another wiring diagram at austinthirdgen that shows a purple wire from the starter to the gear selector switch, I'm going to look there and see if I can find the culpit, any other suggestions? Because I'm heading over in the morning to work on it before work, but the car is about 20 miles from home so I'm bumming rides to and from and calling in all my favors right now...

 

You obviously have the wiring diagram for the VATS system, so I won't post it here. Is the blue wire light blue or dark blue?

That yellow wire is supposed to be purple if it runs to the starter solenoid. Is the fuse good, first of all, and second, would you happen to know which is the starter enable relay, because something tells me you're going to need to find and test it?

 

I've been reading that it's either in the left side kick panel or high under the driver side dash, I couldn't find the appropriate colored wires behind the left kick panel, so I'm assuming its hidden in the dash, which sounds like a crapload of fun. The wire SHOULD be purple according to everything that I've read, but what concerns me is when I found the purple wire running to the 3A CRK fuse, its at least a few gauges larger than the wire I'm dealing with. It apperas the purple wire fried out some time ago, was replaced with this 12/14ga Yellow one, then that went to hell and it was spliced with this electric blue colored one, which now hangs in space at my feet.

 

You're on the right track, it sounds like. First, I would check to see if the wire has 12V when the key is cycled to the Start position, and then I would try to find out why it fried in the first place.

 

Well, I do in fact have power in the start position on the purple wire in the CRK fuse. I looked through the shifter assembly and the only wires going to it are on the display track, the wires are black and grey with a stripe, I couldn't be sure of the color. The wire I'm dealing with will only extend so far as the right extremity of the driver's side under dash area, so I'm thinking wherever it was hooked up has gotta be in there, there are no wires coming out from under or over the radio / AC housing. I have large wiring harnesses with a few empty slots, and hooking the car up to one of the wires in there, I think the K terminal on the lettered one, cause the car to start turning over, but the gauges fuse blew before it made it, so I know the starter works. Right now I'm just running on fumes and unfortunately all my tools were stolen out of the back of my aunt's car in the driveway yesterday while I was at work, so now I'm working with my knuckles and some electrical tape.

 

Also, I can't seem to figure out why the '92 wiring diagrams don't show the CRK fuse connection, but mine does in fact have what looks like a 12ga purple wire on one end and a purple wire with a white stripe of a smaller gauge on the other. If this doesn't run off the same Starter Solenoid - Gear Selector Switch wire anymore, then why is it still the purple color and all, if the purple wire stayed with that wiring run?

 

So I'm looking for the gear selector switch and the starter enable switch, I know the SES isn't behind the kick panel, does anyone have pictures of them for the sake of ease in locating them? If possible illustrating the location of such?

 

The neutral start switch is on the side of the shifter assembly (parking brake side) and the connector is right under where the ashtray is when the shift plate is installed. It has around six wires running to it, Orange/Black, Yellow, Purple, either a Lt or Dk Blue wire, a Lt Green wire, and I think maybe a ground wire.

The starter enable switch is the VATS module. The engine DOES run, correct? So, your problem is probably centered around the starter enable relay, and where that is, I can't help you, as I don't have one.

Here is an idea: Try starting the car in gear, with the brakes on. It might be that your NSS is misaligned and needs adjustment. The car should not start in any other gear position other than Park and Neutral.

 

Nothing will happen until I find out where this starter wire goes, that's the issue. I'm looking for a wire it would have been spliced to, but there's nothing in sight, unless it connected to one of the wiring harnesses under the dash. The reason I'm looking for the SES and the GSS are because according to the wiring diagrams the starter connects directly to the GSS and then to the SES. The one I'm looking at now no longer shows the Starter Solenoid connecting to both the 3A CRK fuse AND the Gear Selector Switch, it just shows a direct connection to the GSS now. So I'm wondering if it's simply missed in the diagram and I can still hook up to the 3A fuse, or if I need to find the GSS and connect it there, because based on the length of the wire, I'm about two feet short. according to the length it should connect to something in the under dash area on the driver's side or to the fuse box...

 

You're going to have to drop the driver's footwell panel. You're also going to have to drop the fuse panel so you can see and reach above it. Up high on the firewall, you will see a large group of wires connecting to a black box thing. You need to remove the cover from this, as this is your C100 junction block that connects the engine harness to the dash harness. You will see a couple of wires there that should interest you. One is the purple wire. You need to find out if you have power here when the key is cycled to the Start position. If not, then you need to splice the "new" connection at the NSS (also called the GSS). If necessary, you're going to have to bring along a 10mm socket and pull the console to get at the switch.

That purple wire that runs to the CRK fuse is pretty much useless on the VIN T engine. For the V8, that wire has something to do with the ECM. However, you can backtrack from the CRK fuse to find the starter solenoid trigger wire. You're going to need a razor blade to cut through the tape covering the harness to find what you need. My guess is that something happened and the factory wire got bypassed by this half-baked crap that a shop or the previous owner did. In which case, you're also going to have to find the factory wire in the harness by the starter.

 

Thanks very much, I'll try that...

 

So, no luck finding the NSS/GSS under the console. The only thing down by the cigarette lighter are the black wires leading to it, they're disconnected now, but that's it. There is a large bundle of wires leading through the stereo head unit compartment, among them a light purple and a dark green, but they head down under the console and I don't see them under the shifter assembly, I'm wondering if I can just splice into the purple wire there...

 

Okay, so we're making progress, I had the car towed to my house so I could work on it a little more independently, but it is still my only trnasportation, so time is of the essence, however, I did today splice in the starter wire to the NSS/GSS purple wire, still no go, then I followed the wiring diagram up and jumpered the starter enable relay, VIOLA! The car cranks now, but still no start, it won't turn over. So now I'm at an empass. Could the VATS system have failed, causing the SER to not engage, like the wiring diagram shows, or possibly just the SER was bad, but if that's the case, why no start now? If I bypass the key resistor too, will that fix the problem or am I looking at one of those devastatingly expensive Bypass Module deals, in which case does anyone need parts for a 92 V6 F-Bird, cuz I only paid $300 for it in the first place and shelling out more than twice that for a bypass just isn't feasible. Please throw some advice my way.

 

The car is cranking pretty hard, it sounds like the cylinders are firing, but the car won't turn over. At this point, I've spliced the starter S Terminal wire into the NSS purple wire, jumpered the starter enable relay, I'm wondering now if I need to use the resistor trick to bypass the keypass module now, or if maybe it just needs a jump or something, the juice seems okay, it's cranking harder than normal right now, and when I turn the key to start the gauge reads about 1/3 of the total field, well within the acceptable charge range.

 

Did you check to see if the engine is getting fuel? Try to find the fuse for the fuel pump and see if its burned.

 

Thanks, I'll try that. Is there an engine-side fuse box? I've had one in most cars I've owned, but I can't seem to find one in here...

 

I havent checked but I think its under the dash in our cars.

 

Yeah, I looked all through that fuse box, replaced any that were blown, and nothing. I found out that my key is a Code 13 of the 15 resistors they usedthat year, and with a digital multimeter found the resistance is 7.7K, so I got some in line resistors and now I'm scouring the net for the exact bypass instructions, I don't wanna blow the airbags doing this...

 

Thanks to all you guys, Maverick H1L, sam24th, you guys have been very helpful. I hooked up 5 1.5K ohm resistors in series in the SIR circuit to the tumbler and it worked like a charm, car started right up and roared like before. I'm so happy it's working again, and so thankful for all your able assistance.

 

I'm glad you got it running again. I would have been more help had my AC adaptor for my laptop not crapped out for the second time this year. But, anyways, now you know that the VATS system also sends a trigger pulse to a terminal on the ECM to tell the ECM to activate the fuel control circuit. I'm running into the same problem with my harness with the exception of the fact that my car doesn't currently have the VATS module (87 doesn't have the VATS system).