So I've been struggling to get my 4ac engine running for a few months now. So far I've tested the starter, the battery and the alternator at the local autozone and they all tested fine. There's no crank, and no clicking from the starter so I think it must be an electrical issue. My fuses all look good, and the starter wire is in and the engine ground is in too. Not sure what else to do, I think it's electrical because when I turn the key to On, none of my dash lights come on except for the turn lights. Headlights are bright too.

My alternator plug was barely hanging on, it was twisted together and electrical taped before so I bought a replacement plug and soldered it, maybe I possibly got the wires wrong? Here's a pic http://i63.tinypic.com/kd0235.jpg Green at the top goes to b/y Ignition. Blue in the middle goes to the white Sense. Bottom red wire goes to the yellow charge light. But really I'm lost for ideas so I'd appreciate any help

the car should crank without the alternator hooked up as far as I know. I would start by checking shorted wires around the firewall on the drivers side. I had a similar issue but the car would crank. When you turn the ignition to on, do you hear the fuel pump prime?

These are all the shorted wires I found
http://imgur.com/a/QSEXH

As for the fuel pump, since it's a 4ac should I be hearing anything? It's not an electric fuel pump in the tank, its the mechanical pump at the engine.

does the engine turn at all or just nothing? Maybe check the wires to the starter and make sure your grounds are good. Also, maybe fuses.

Nothing from the engine. I'll double/triple check everything today. Thanks for helping out

Also check your ignition cylinder switch.....where the key goes....you can test it with a test light....there should be a constant power wire and a wire that when you turn the key it will get power while the key is turned.....sometimes corrosion can mess up the leads in the switch.

Without even any clicking at the starter, I would definitely check the whole circuit between the ignition switch and the starter With all of those wires snipped and dangling, who knows what got left out in the past?

Was there an alarm system previously installed? Lots of times, the alarm system/remote start system will affect wiring from/to the relay for the starter.

when you turn the ignition to ON, and just the turn lights come on, are you able to turn on accessories like radio, fan, dome light, cig lighter?

could be more damage done to your under-dash harness than you think.

--sarge

In the process of checking all my fuses, it turns out I actually did miss one It was the 10A engine fuse responsible for the charging system. Replaced that and my dash lights are working once more!

Unfortunately there's still no crank, but when the key is set to On my charge light turns on now. As for accessories, well I don't have any to check. Even my dome light is missing a bulb. I guess my next step will be to pull the harness and look it over starting from the ignition.

Glad you are making some progress, let us know how the harness check goes.

do you have all three fusible links in the positive battery terminal? The 60A and 30A are both part of the ign switch circuit.

Is your car manual, or automatic?

With manual, the clutch start switch ties ground to the starter relay; with an automatic, the neutral safety switch does similar.

manual clutch start switch has a white with black stripe and a black with white stripe wire in it, from the dash-harness side.

The starter relay is in the main Junction Box 1 that holds the fuses behind the left kick panel. I think the furthest to the top and towards the front is the starter relay, but I could be mistaken.

I've seen a LOT of cars not start with the clutch switch going funky. If it's not connected, the starter relay won't close, which will not send any current to the starter at all....

for all of the wires with small spots stripped out, looks like where they tapped in for alarm/remote-start. unless you feel like un-pinning them and running shrink-wrap over them, I'd just use some tape on each one.

Good luck!

also, I think the Pink and Violet wires are the left front speaker, which makes sense as the other side Light blue and light-green are the right front, according to my book.

I checked out the clutch start switch and it was incorrectly plugged in! It was connected to this earlier




I wish that solved my problem but its still not getting it to crank. My starter relay is now making a clicking noise, and my dash lights turn off like if the was car starting. Making small steps but I feel closer than ever. Thanks everyone!

Typically a starter will have two wires connected. One fat wire bolted down which has
12V at all times coming directly from the battery positive. The other wire is a skinny one
that probably has a female spade connector on the end and pushes on to a male spade
connector by the starter solenoid. This wire only has 12V when the key is in the cranking
position and the clutch start switch is operating correctly. There may also be a start relay
in the circuit that needs to be working as well

If you want to test the starter, you can bypass all the key switch circuit wiring. Just take
the spade connector off the solenoid terminal and run a test wire directly from the battery
positive terminal. Taking all care to avoid shorting the test wire out on any other part of
the engine or chassis, touch the live end of the test wire to the exposed male spade on
the solenoid. Make sure the car is out of gear before doing this test !!!

If the starter is good, it should make a noise as the starter gear engages the ring gear,
and the engine should begin to crank (so long as you keep the test wire touching the spade
terminal). A successful test means that your starter is OK and the problem is in the wiring.
If your SR5 was an auto you need to make sure the starter lockout is bypassed.

Cheers... jondee86

Hey everyone sorry for not updating. In the end the problem was definitely the clutch start switch not being plugged in and then I realized my battery had also lost voltage so that's why I didn't get the crank initially. I figured that out, but I then I ran into another problem which is; I'm not getting any fuel!

I've been trying to solve this own my own but I'm not quite sure what more to do now. I've changed the fuel pump. I've blown compressed air through the fuel lines, and the fuel tank bracket. Both were clogged with rust. I thought that would be the problem but there's still no fuel coming through. It feels like my fuel pump has no suction but it's a brand new pump.

Only other thing is my charcoal canister was broken from the bottom end so I just deleted it. I have the tank vent line uncapped but I've also tried capping it without any difference.

Edit: I'm wondering if the problem is still my fuel pump. I bought it from Rock Auto on wholesale so it could be quite old... It's really stiff and I can't pump it by hand but I'm not sure I should be able to.

I haven't taken off my SR5 fuel pump, but I think I can whip it off of my spare engine when I get home from work to see how it feels. If I remember from other ones on other cars, though, they can be pretty tough to move by hand. The only thing I can think of is to make SURE that you have it on the proper side of the cam lobe, and that your fuel lines aren't reversed.

If the lines were filled with rust, you very well could have particulate/gum/blockage in the carburetor, which could probably need a good cleaning even worse than the lines.