Down to two possible problems

[Micahwc]

I have a really dumb, newby question. Where is the starter motor located? The TSRM shows what it looks like, as does the Haynes manual, but neither shows where it actually is located.

Thanks in advance

[supramacist]

Underneath the air intake on the intake side of the engine all the way back onto the tip of the bellhousing.

2 big a$$ bolts and a small group of wires are attached to its' belly.

[Bill UK]

Your need to crawl underneath to see the connections.

[Micahwc]

Well, I worked on it for a while today and it still isn't running, although I think we have ruled out some possibilities. For starters, we tried Bill UK's suggestion. We originally tried a 18 gauge wire, it over heated very quickly so we tried using an 8 gauge. We would get a spark at the starter motor end when we would do this, and then the car would die. If we disconnected the ground from the battery and reconnected it we had power again. Enough power to raise and lower the windows as well as turn on the radio.

We tried starting the car while jump starting it. The original problem occurred during this, that is, the car would crank well but not start. Once we disconnected the jumper cables, the car would revert to the problem described above.

Just as a reminder, when this battery was brand new, (about 2 weeks ago) the car started on the first try, but would lose all power once you turned it off. The car would do nothing when you turned the key, but if you jumped it, it would start on the first try.

While doing all of this today I did find a wire that had two spots about an inch long without any insulation on them, one of which looked burned pretty bad. I replaced it. I think it was a ground, it was located in the back passenger side of the engine bay and it connected the engine to the frame of the car. I replaced it with an 8 gauge wire because I have a lot of them.


I am inclined to think that it is a bad alternator, however, it should start when it is jumped if it is a bad alternator. Some sort of wire problem still seems to be a possibility. I think the starter is good because when I tried jump starting it cranked fine, it just didn't start.

Any ideas? Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

-Micah

[supramacist]

Pull the alternator.
Take it and have it tested.

[slader99]

Disregard the post below, I didn't notice that you had mentioned the wire with burns went to the frame. No problem with having an extra beefy wire running to ground!

Where was the "burned piece of wire"? Take a picture of its location and post it for us. Insulation missing on a ground wire wouldn't cause you any issues whatsoever. As long as the ground conductors aren't severed, there is no need for insualtion on them.

It sounds to me like its a hot (live wire) that is shorting against your body. That would explain the unwillingness to start even with jumpers attached.

If I were you, I would jumper the car again, and while the ignition switch is in the on position, use your voltmeter to see if there is voltage between that burned wire and the frame of your car. If you want you can skip that step and jump straight to replacing the section of wire with a piece of similar gauge. (You don't want a piece of 26 gauge wire with a 8 gauge section in it, it looks crappy and will be hard to join effectively) If it is indeed a live wire that has been shorting against your body, your battery is probably now pooched because automotive batteries don't take depleting to emtpy very well.....

If that burned piece of wire is your problem, after you've patched up the wire nicely (I'd solder then heat shirnk or electrical tape your joints) the car should have no issue starting when jumpered to a heathly battery.

[KingCobra]

OK, gotta love internet troubleshooting!!! LOL

Motor is turning over...

Fuel Pump is working...

EFI Fuse good?

Ignitor is working and sending signal to the coils??? (should have constant 12v to all coils if the ignitor is working). Also help to plug in a noid light to see if you are getting pulses from the ignitor...

Main relay has been checked??? (you can usually swap this relay out with the a/c magnetic clutch, as they share the same relay).

Circuit opening Relay good??? (IIRC this uses the same relay too).

Timing Belt jumped timing??? (not likely but could cause this too).

Although in an unmodified car, these should never be issues, but you might still wanna check these, look at the neutral start switch, and the theft control computer. God forbid if a previous owner didn't know what they were doing wiring something into the car, these could cause problems too.

Just some ideas, suggestions to look into! I could come up with more but these are some things I could quickly think of. Good Luck!