Anyone Wants To Help Me Diagnose This Short?

[SCT]

Ok... I don't know what else I can be missing. I'll keep this short as much as I can.

PROBLEM
Key in ON position, both turn signals and hi-beam indicator are faintly lit (more visible in the dark). Exterior lights do not come on, only the indicators on the dash.

Key in START position, both turn signals and hi-beam indicators are fully lit. Signal indicators are solid, non-flashing. Exterior lights do not come on, only their indicators on the dash. The COOLING and A/C CONDENSER FANS COME ON. THE CAR DOES NOT START. Sometimes a click is heard from the starter/ solenoid, sometimes not.

DONE SO FAR
1. Replaced BATTERY.
2. Replaced STARTER.
3. Replaced IGNITION SWITCH.
4. Checked MAIN (+) STARTER CABLE from battery to starter, no short.
5. All fuses/ relays checked, problem persist even without the appropriate fuse/ relay in. However, I need to double-check and redo this.

NOT YET CHECKED
1. ECU
2. The rest of the wiring in the wiring harness...
3. I need to locate all the possible grounds and check them.

SIDE NOTE
When I did my auto-to-5spd swap, I had to jump the neutral safety switch. So there's a single wire to jump it at the connector. When I pull it out and tried to start, everything is normal. Without it being connected, the starter shouldn't work. With it connected, the starter should work but I have a short to renders it to not work...

And I notice I do not have a starter relay... Which is weird, never had one. .. My parents bought this car new back in '88. It's a JT2 Vin, huge difference to me.



If anyone can throw some ideas, please do. I have all the factory service manuals for this specific year (1988). But it hasn't been very successful in tracing the fault. At least I haven't.

[rdyzz]

i know you said you checked your + cable to the starter, but have you tried replacing it and the starter solenoid wire to a new one, and getting a negative wire. connect that from the battery's negative terminal straight to one of the bolts that holds the starter to the bellhousing. i did this and now my car starts up everytime now, i know you think your + is in good shape, but it might not be.

[Flashmn]

Check the engine (Transmission) - chassis ground.... Weird things happen if its not good, lol, such as smoke from under the dash...

My starter grounded itself through the copper tube to my oil press gauge and there to the dash grounding point... needless to say it burnt the insulation quite fast...

[SCT]

I forgot to mention. The fans cut on when the key is in the START position as well.

Also forgot to mention that this has happend before but the problem simply went away.

Originally Posted by rdyzz

i know you said you checked your + cable to the starter, but have you tried replacing it and the starter solenoid wire to a new one, and getting a negative wire. connect that from the battery's negative terminal straight to one of the bolts that holds the starter to the bellhousing. i did this and now my car starts up everytime now, i know you think your + is in good shape, but it might not be.

Yes, I had an old jumper cable I didn't use no more. I took that, connect the large alligator clamp to the positive terminal and the other end of the cable to the positive terminal of the starter. However, I never tried it for the ground. I'll try that.

Originally Posted by Flashmn

Check the engine (Transmission) - chassis ground.... Weird things happen if its not good, lol, such as smoke from under the dash...

My starter grounded itself through the copper tube to my oil press gauge and there to the dash grounding point... needless to say it burnt the insulation quite fast...

Slowly but surely, I'm looking for all groundings and checking them.

[SCT]

Originally Posted by Flashmn

Check the engine (Transmission) - chassis ground.... Weird things happen if its not good, lol, such as smoke from under the dash...

My starter grounded itself through the copper tube to my oil press gauge and there to the dash grounding point... needless to say it burnt the insulation quite fast...

UPDATE:
So I tried this. However, I had mistakenly connected a cable to the positive battery terminal and grounded it onto the transmission near the starter... Usually you would get a feedback, like a big spark that tells you NOOOOOOO... but oddly enough... The short symptoms I have appears. The fan comes on, the starter kicks but no starting actions.... I can hear the fan relays kicking on and off.

I haven't tried connecting the ground lead from the battery straight to the transmission and tried turning the key yet.