Car will not start- most of the time. Automatic 1990

MkIIIDK

Nucking Foob
Jan 20, 2010
43
0
0
Lake Zurich, IL
IT clicks one time and then the lights dim. However, this only happens in Park. Car fired right up in Neutral. Any ideas? Battery is not dead and starter checks out fine.

I believe its a malfunctioning neutral safety switch or whatever its called. Could that be it?
 
Last edited:

MkIIIDK

Nucking Foob
Jan 20, 2010
43
0
0
Lake Zurich, IL
I don't see how it could be that, it doesn't fire up in park, but always fires up in neutral... even when frozen, and usually within 2-5 cranks.
 

radiod

Supramania Contributor
Dec 13, 2007
1,342
0
0
38
Abbotsford, BC
Relay mod is a work around, not a fix. Look for jetjock's post(s) in that thread and the read the last page.

If it's firing up while in "N" but not "P", try wiggling the shifter a little bit while in "P" and trying to crank at the same time. See if it fires at all. The switch might not be tripping in the "P" position properly. I had an old beater Mazda 323 that had that problem once in a while, but I just smaked it a bit and lived with it because it was a $450 beater.

I had a similar problem with intermettant no starts that eventually (after a few months) turned to ALWAYS no start and it ended up being a bad starter. The relay mod in that case would have done absolutely nothing. I'd say to start by checking your grounds, making sure they're good. Check voltage drops between the battery and the starter as well as the battery and the starter solenoid.

I'm not saying the starter mod won't make your car start, it just won't fix the existing problem. If you feel like cutting in to your harness that's your own decision, just remember that ever new connection point you make is another point of possible failure.
 

MkIIIDK

Nucking Foob
Jan 20, 2010
43
0
0
Lake Zurich, IL
radiod;1504415 said:
Relay mod is a work around, not a fix. Look for jetjock's post(s) in that thread and the read the last page.

If it's firing up while in "N" but not "P", try wiggling the shifter a little bit while in "P" and trying to crank at the same time. See if it fires at all. The switch might not be tripping in the "P" position properly. I had an old beater Mazda 323 that had that problem once in a while, but I just smaked it a bit and lived with it because it was a $450 beater.

I had a similar problem with intermettant no starts that eventually (after a few months) turned to ALWAYS no start and it ended up being a bad starter. The relay mod in that case would have done absolutely nothing. I'd say to start by checking your grounds, making sure they're good. Check voltage drops between the battery and the starter as well as the battery and the starter solenoid.

I'm not saying the starter mod won't make your car start, it just won't fix the existing problem. If you feel like cutting in to your harness that's your own decision, just remember that ever new connection point you make is another point of possible failure.


I agree with this. I don't want to go cutting up the harness.

Not a newb, but by no means a pro.