starting trouble

[jesse0880]

I'm running out of ideas to why I cant get the starter to crank. I'v done the following:

tested starter-passed
tested battery-passed
tested starter relay- within specs
looped the clutch safety switch
and tested for good ground by removing the ground terminal from the battery and placing a test light at the negative post on the battery and the other end at the unplugged ground terminal and the light lit up...

when i turn the ignition key, i can hear something clicking behind me (relay i assume) and something like a faint whine but not like the starter trying to spin... help!

[wags70ss]

First thing you should od is check ALL your fuses. A fuse can look good & still be bad. Dont just look at the fuses to verify whether they are good or not. Probe both sides of the top of each fuse with a test light with the ignition key on the verify that there is power on both sides. I have seen fuses that looked good, but did not have power on both sides. If all fuses are good, go to this step:

First, get a different starter relay that you know is good & swap it with yours to see if that solves the problem. If you dont have a relay, you can put your relay in another Mr2 to see if it will start with your relay. if it wont your relay is bad. Just because it is within specs doesn't mean it is working properly.

Now comes the fun part:

You should have a battery cable & a smaller wire running to the starter. First check the battery cable to be sure it is clean & tight. Then get a test light & make sure it lights up when you check it. (12 volts) Next, remove the small wire from the starter. Then get a piece of 10-12 guauge wire about a foot long & strip both ends of it. Touch one end to the battery cable wire, & the other end to the plug on the starter where the wire plugs in. The starter should turn over. If not, ur starter is defective. If it does, connect the test light between the small wire & ground. Turn the key to start & the test light should light up. If it doesn't, you are not getting power to that wire from the relay. Then you have to get a wiring diagram & start tracing wires to find out where the problem is. If you can find out which wire out of the relay is the one that goes to the starter, connect your test light to ground, & probe the wire right where it comes out of the relay. Then turn the key to start & the light should light up. If it does, then ur wire from the relay to the starter is bad. If not, then find which wire goes from the ignition switch to the relay. Again probe it while turning the key to start. It should light up. If not it is not getting power & your ignition switch may be bad. You should also have a wire that is hot with the key on that goes to the relay. If you turn the key on ( not to start, just on) at least 1 wire to the relay should be hot when probed with a test light.

This is very time consuming & a pain in the butt, but it may be your last resort. be absolutly sure that all your fuses, relays, starter, ect are good before getting into this. It is rare to find a wiring issue, but it does happen. generally you have a bad component somewhere. Swapping out components with known good ones is the quickest way to find a bad part.

[wags70ss]

The faint wine is most likely ur fuel pump.