So, after the last 24 hours of troubleshooting the **** outta of this car, i'ma just see if someone else has any bright ideas..

Just got done tuning my shops car, and honestly i'm at a lost for words.
I was doing some final track prepping pulls and the temp gauge started to act up on the cluster, but the datalogs never got above 188.. I pulled home to check the single wire under the dizzy, maybe it was loose because everytime i did a pull or even revved at idle, the temp gauge on the cluster would rise. I went to start the car back up and nothing.. Dash and all light up, but when i turn the key to (start) III, it just dims and doesn't do anything.

Weird.. So lets go through the routine.

-Checked the grounds, all of them.. I'm running 4. Battery to chassis, tranny to chassis, VC to chassis and Vtec/ecu to chassis.
Ohms for all of them are between .02-.07

-I've bypassed the cluster/netural switch, they are wired together.
-Starter relay clicks
-main relay clicks on(FP works)

Checked the starter big wire for 12 volts, check, when turning the key to START, and voltage testing the single, black/white wire i have 12 volts, STILL no start.

Replaced starter today with new starter, still nothing. I push started the car, it runs fine.. if i kill it and try to restart, nothing.

Yes fuses were all checked and all good.

Something else that really pissed me off, was on the last push start, i lost interior lighting, cluster/ac lighting.. but my running lights work outside. I have no cluster lights and no ac panel lighting.

I dont know what else it could be.. everything has the grounds/powers it needs, the relays and fuses all check out.. I'm just posting to see if anyone else has any ideas.. i'm think of changing fusebox's out under the dash.

The car has been running fine for years, i just got this new motor build done last weekend and the car has been running and starting fine..
Kindof just at a lost..maybe i'm so burnt out of it i'm just not seeing anything.

 

This really sounds like a ground issue..
When you push start it and it starts does the interior lights come back on after its running?
Double check the tranny to wheel well ground.
Make sure it doesnt rotate or the nut doesnt spin.

 

No, when the car is running, the lights do not come on(interior). All other running lights and headlights work.

Tranny ground is fine, Grounds have been checked and rechecked.

Its honestly a very weird issue, Ohms from battery ground to tranny are .03? i mean.. thats telling me the engine and chassis are grounded. I had interior lights before the last push start, if that makes any difference.. When i popped the clutch the lights went out and i haven't been able to trace or turn them back on.. i've torn apart the dash to the point of where, if i have to take it out, it might be 3 more bolts lol.. The wiring seems fine underneath and outside.

i'm just looking for a possible direction to head in..

 

My GF is off of work today and she offered to go by the junkyard to get me a new fuse box(under dash), so i think i'll just automatically be replacing that.. I got some diagrams from alldata, which should help me pinpoint the problem more.. but i'm still not 100% convinced its a ground and/or a short somewhere.. Would the 4 wires going to the alternator have anything to do with this, if they were shorted together, like a short to B+..?

 

to that top

 

sounds like it could be an ignition relay or something along those lines, because you have obviously replaced the starter and the starter motor has 12 volts and it cant the starter solenoid and its not that and the car doesnt get power so the battery cant be bad. it wouldnt be a ground issue because the car obviously runs when you roll start it

 

Well, i aquired a all data wiring diagram for the starting circut, I have power(12 volts) up to the switch, and when i switch to start, i'm getting 12 volts out to the brown plug that has a solid white wire and black/white wire, this is the starter signal wire, fyi.. it also has two other blue wires, with white tracers.

Replaced the fuse box with a working on, no change. No interior lights still and no starter power.

 

electricity is a bitch lol

 

This might sound stupid, but did you ever tried a bench test on the starter?

 

put 12 v to the starter terminals and see if it spins

 

it does not spin.

 

Did, it worked.

 

This seems a loose connection problem. Either the ground or power wire.
Try this ,While the starter is in the car, connect a large wire like a jump starter cable from +battery to starter + terminal. Extend a piece of wire from + terminal to solenoid + terminal. If it still wont click and/or spin, connect the negative jumper cable direct from -battery post to solenoid housing. If the solenoid clicks and starter spin, look for the loose grounding.

 

Also, with the starter in the car, did you ever observe the flywheel while someone else was cranking the car? I've seen more than one starter pass a bench test, but fail to engage the flywheel fully.

 

I'll give this a whirl

 

Got cluster lighting back, bad dimmer switch, i'll be bridging the red/blk wire for my lighting.. i guess the push starting with the jolt fucked it up finally.

 

I fixed it.. ended up getting tired of the whole situation.. Added another chasebays ground strap to the actual starter, grounded it to the bolt i use to ground the tranny to the chassis and ..its fixed. Dunno why this is fixing it, seems like the starter being bolted to the tranny should be good enough, i also had .02 ohms from the starter bolts to the battery ground..

For whatever the case may be, the starter now starts and engages..

 

congrats

 

Glad to hear you made it.

The starter housing is made of cast alloy. It is prone to oxidation(powdery white substance). Oxidation like other form of rust and dirt prevents good electrical conductivity. At low currents, it may not be noticeable but at surge currents during starting, it may be obvious. I cant see any other point of failure because you took the ground from the tranny.

 

Well i've always been a big believer in proper grounding..
Its grounded to the same bolt as my tranny's to chassis ground, more or less i got pissed off of having anywhere from .01-.08 ohms and not being able to still start the car.

in anycase, added an extra ground and its good, i do need a new battery because through the week of testing i ended up prolly killing it lol

 

You are good to go then. Next time in the distant future when you by any chance remove the starter,thoroughly clean the neck of the starter and the part of the engine where it comes in contact.