okay i am having a really frustraing problem with my motor, it's a fully built gsr on Neptune demon rtp with LC1 wideband and I am freaking stomped. The problem is that the motor/starter will not crank. This is the 3rd brand new oem starter, a brand new battery which i keep fully charged and I can monitor it in Neptune rtp. I also have a brand new main relay. When I switch the key to the on position my mph needle starts going up and down multiple times sometimes all the way round and comes to a rest back a 0mph and sometimes the trip miles will start to move up slowly. then when I try to crank it I get one click from the starter sometimes multiple clicks from the starter but never more than 4 or 5 clicks and while I'm holding the key in the cranking position my radiator fan will turn on sometimes and will go off when I stop trying to crank it. I tried to jump the starter straight from the battery and I still get the one click and sometimes 2 or 3 clicks. I have done lots of motor swaps and I know what I'm doing, I just never ran into a problem like this. Please help me

 

well from my understanding when gauges start jumping when the car is in on Position and the is running, there is a problem with the ignitor, but from what i am hearing it might be a wiring problem(ground/Power) or even a fuse what might be resisting the power to the wiring itself. check you fuses and ground sources(tranny ground wire, block, head) or even check the wiring for the starter to the fuse box.

 

yea i had a distrubutor and a loose power wire did the same thing u describe.. you have a loose ground or power wire somewhere. check the obvious. battery cable.

 

Oh I forgot to say I have new bolts and new ground wires and I put the starter in my friends car and it cranked his car right up. I even grinded of the paint for the ground connections where I could to make sure I was getting a good ground connection. When I put the key in the ON position and jump the starter straight from the battery the starter should crank The motor but I still get the 1 or 3 clicks. In theory this should work to determine if a starter is good because u are bypassing everything else and going straight to the starter. I have heard of people having bouncing needle problems to be the ignition switch, I don't know how true that is, can anyone verify?

 

The bypass jump you are doing is correct, although it makes no diff. if the key is on or not, in fact I would try the bypass jump with the ign. off, [nothing else powered up].

You have a current, [power] issue, either ground or the 12V+ side.
Circuits interfering with other circuits, [starter circuit and gauge circuits] is almost always because of a grounding issue.

Check continuity of ground to cars chassis and to engine.

You said, "I have new bolts and new ground wires" what exactly does that mean?

Try this, using a set of jumper cables, connect one set of ends to batt. , the pos.(+) to batt. cable stud on starter motor and the ground to something on the engine, try thy the bypass jump again. 94

 

The new ground wires I have are, new valve cover ground wire, new transmission ground wire, and new battery post wires. I also replaced all the 10mm bolts on these grounds. I replaced the to make because they were becoming coroded with that green stuff. Also thought about doing the jumper cable thing but that will only tell if my starter is any good, I know the starter is good because it worked in my friends car. I will check continuity in the grounds tonight

 

Yes it will tell you the starter is good, if the starter cranks, it confirms starter is not binding, [mounted on your engine], you would then disconnect the pos.(+) jumper and try the bypass jump again, if starter cranks, grounding is the problem. 94

 

Okay, it's got to be a ground issue. I'm thinking I should start where the engine harness grounds to the motor on the thermostat housing and try and find a break in the line or Some kind of issue

 

My guess is a main ground, not just an engine harness ground, the engine harness ground has nothing to do with the starter motor ground, [starter is grounded to block] the engine ground, [chassis to engine ground] is what grounds the block, you could remove the engine harness and starter motor would still crank, [by pass jump]. 94