Damn! Go to start my car for the first time and starter won't kick on :(

[MarkIII4Me]

I turn the key, dash lights dim but starter does nothing. I unhooked the plug on the side of the starter and ran a power line from the battery and the starter kicked on fine. I have no idea where the problem lies. I did a Auto to manual swap and spliced the black and white wires from the AT harness to the clutch pedal's lower sensor for the neutral safety switch.

It's strange, since the first few times I held the clutch pedal down and turned the key to start, I could hear a motor sound (fuel pump perhaps?) from the rear of the car. Only when the clutch pedal was depressed though. I'm certain my wiring is correct.

I do have the coilpack unplugged to keep the car from firing-up before proper oil pressure is reached. This doesn't affect the ECU sending the power to the starter does it?

The plug on the side of the starter is pretty dirty inside, I cleaned it fairly well and rebent the prongs and still nothing

Ideas?

 

[radiod]

The reason you only hear the fuel pump when your clutch is depressed is because of the neutral safety switch. It means your clutch switch is doing it's job . Beyond that though, it's going to be some testing with a multimeter to see what the problem is.

I had the same problem a while ago, but it's my daily driver, and dealing with a car that was starting up 50% of the time was just stupid, so I did a rewire from the ignition on. I took a wire from the after switch side of the ignition wiring and poked it through the firewall through an existing hole drilled by the previous owner for an alarm system. From there I ran it straight to the plug on the starter under the intake.

 

[whitemike]

Make sure the plug is still securely connected to the starter. The signal wire.

 

[MarkIII4Me]

The signal wire is the one I removed and ran direct power from the battery to and it kicked on. The ECU isn't sending the voltage for some reason. I just had a thought though. I forgot to bypass the factory alarm. I removed the horn and unhooked the dash light, so I wouldn't even know if it was going off or not. Is there anyway for me to know if this is the problem?

Can someone point me to a thread that discusses the factory alarm bypass?

Thanks a bunch guys.

 

[RazoE]

you have to ground the orange and blue wire coming off the control box, located near the gas/brake pedal...

it could also be the starter relay, I had the 12v starter relay mod done on my 86.5, because turning the key would do nothing sometimes, and i would be left stranded...

once the mod was done, I haven't had a single problem since..

 

[RiyadYar]

^^ got it its a common problem with the cars most people bypass it with the relay mod. hope this helps http://www.supramania.com/forums/sh...-Starter-Relay-Mod)&highlight=start+everytime

 

[MarkIII4Me]

Well I did the factory alarm bypass and still nothing. I can here a clicking from the passenger kick panel which is where the starter relay is, so maybe I need to perform the relay mod. The other problem I have is that I poured 3.5 gallons of gasoline into the tank and the supra isn't seeing any fuel pressure. I mentioned in my first post how I thought I was hearing the fuel pump going when I turned the key to ignition, but it only did it a few times and stopped (and the gas tank was dry at the time). Now I turn the key to ignition, dash lights dim, hear clicking in passenger kick area but that's it. I look at my AFPR and its gauge shows 0psi. Do you think I could have burnt-out the pump (brand new Denso unit) from having it run for a little dry?

Perhaps these two issues are interrelated. Could my ECU be bad perhaps? I am using a JDM AT ECU I picked up off ebay. So it was never tested.

What is the next step for me to take in tracking down the issues (no starter and no fuel pressure)?

I have until December 4th to get this thing running and out of the garage so I'm flipping out here. And my next days off (other than thanksgiving, isn't going to be until December 1st and 2nd. Then I work 6 days straight). I'm screwed!!!



*** This info may help. Running VPC so the factory AFM is removed. ***

 

[MarkIII4Me]

For the love of god! Somebody help me! I'm running out of time!!!!

I spoke with the guy's at Tweak's Motorsports in Georgia. They said it can only be one of 4 things. Bad ground somewhere (is there a specific ground that affects the starter relay?), alarm needing bypassed, blown fuse or the neutral safety switch. Apparently the ECU has nothing to do with the starter. So that takes that out of the equation. They also said that the fuel pump will only activate when starter gets a signal and the engine starts cranking. I was told that I need to pull the glove box and look for the biggest of 3 plugs coming off of the engine harness going to the body harness. There should be thick black wire with a white stripe that I need to check for voltage. However, I don't know what to do if it has or doesn't have voltage.

I mentioned the starter relay mod to them and they didn't know what I was talking about. They said I shouldn't do that as that is not solving what the actual issue is and I shouldn't be throwing band-aids on things.

 

[RazoE]

Band-aid or not, it might get your car going..

 

[MarkIII4Me]

Perhaps I wired the battery up wrong. I did all my power and grounds off of it with 0ga. Perhapd I grounded something that was supposed to have power running to it. For instancez, there's a group of black and whote striped wires coming off the engine harness near the battery that are grouped together. Are they to be grounded or ran to the + post. They are currentrly grounded.

 

[IJ.]

Thay're grounds and usually bolt up under the intake above the starter, seen people hook em up to the Starter + post before....

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I remember these wires to be really short. I grounded them under the battery tray.

So IJ, any ideas what the issue with my starter and fuel pump may be stemming from?

 

[IJ.]

There's another bundle over by the starter, make sure they're grounded, White/Black trace

 

[MarkIII4Me]

Yeah, I have those attached to the lower runner of the intake manifold. I'll need to go over all of my grounds, but I know they're good.

I have 0ga running from battery to frame and frame to block. Tweak'd said I should also have one going from battery to block. I can't see that possibly making a difference since I'm seeing 12.6v off of my engine already. Do I still need to run battery to block?

 

[IJ.]

I always do, have you tried the starter out of the car yet?

 

[MarkIII4Me]

I ran power from the battery to the lead on the side of the starter and it worked just fine. So I would think the my grounds were good. Not quite sure what is responsible for sending the signal. What are the chances that the lower clutch pedal switch is bad?

 

[IJ.]

It's possible

 

[jetjock]

If you hear the fuel pump running when the clutch is depressed and the key at start (as you claim in post #1) the clutch switch is working. Member radiod has already pointed that out. He also stated "it's going to be some testing with a multimeter to see what the problem is"...

 

[MarkIII4Me]

^
That's what I was thinking. But what would cause the fuel pump to stop working? I only heard it come on the first few times I depressed the clutch and tried starting the car.

I will be in the garage this Thursday with my multimeter and try to track down the source. I'm just trying to get as much information as I can before then. I really don't have any time at all to work on this thing. I need to empty out an entire garage worth of parts and tools.

 

[boostcraver]

I understand having to work on the car yourself (or just WANTING to work on it yourself) but at this point you might be better off to take it to some one who knows auto electric and will fix it the right way or look for a buddie's garage to park it in 'til you have more time to track it down. I'm going through a similar thing with needing to get it running and moved on a time budget. I feel for you man...Mine's been down for most of the year.