You've got proper power being supplies to the starter itself and starter solenoid but it's still not working. I know you breifly checked ground, but is there any way you can get a battery cable, hog out the eyelet so you can remove the starter bolt and then place the battery cable on the starter mounting flange and run the starter bolt through it and tighten. Then on the other end find a good location on the chasis, grind/sand it to bare metal and attach the other end of the cable to that spot.

Doing this will ensure a positive ground to your starter for all testing. This is the last straw IMO, you've got power and it's still not working so it literally HAS to be a grounding issue-that's the only solution left??!! Grounds cause soo many electrical issues and just when you think you tested it right the first time, when you come back full circle and try it again differently it may show the first test was'nt very accurate.

Do this and lemme know wtf is going on...I'm stumped if this does'nt work out!!

 

Ya I am hell-bent on grounding being your issue too man I was so positive it wansn't my problem, but in the end it really was

 

okay i'm gonna get a nice chunk of some 4 awg wire and make a seperate grounding strap for that damn thing ..

Its GOTTA be a grounding issue, everything else makes sense...i'll spend all tomorrow trying to figure this out...

good thing i'm getting good at taking out and puting in starters...i'm only 19 and i bet i can take one out and put one in faster than most(sarcasm)...

 

LOL I'm only 18 and I'm in the same boat! I had to take it out/put it back in like 29.3847 times because I thought the starter was shot, and I was always replacing something different lol.
Oh and I always thought you were older than just 19

 

nope i'm just a pretty knowlegable youngn...

the starter is back in, took me less than 10 minutes...i didn't get any wire to run a new ground for it yet, but i did take a set of jumper cables and hooked one end to the battery and the other to the starter mounting flange, and that didn't work. I would have thought for sure that would've worked for a ground ...but i'm gonna run the ground wire hopefuly tonight if i get a chance...i don't see how the jumper cables didn't work tho...

 

Haha indeed you are Klumby! (knowledgable..)

But the whole jumper-cables thingy.. ya, I know exactly what you are thinking about. I tried all SORTS of combinations w/ them and I couldn't get them to actuate the starter either.
But please tell me you aren't trying to engage the starter w/out the starter being mounted to the block (The starter used the block as a MAJOR ground..)

 

lol, no the starter is all back mounted in place...i'm gonna run another ground wire today...crossin my fingers, hopefully this works...

 

can you jump the big terminal to the small terminal at the starter?

can you get the jumper cable onto the big stud at the solenoid(other end to POS batt term.)?

you might have a Positive cable problem, 12v and high resistance in the cable can mean no/insufficient current to the starter

 

yes, that's what i did to test the starter, and it sure does work...

I'm not sure if i could get a jumper cable in there, but that is a very possible problem. If the ground turns out to not be the problem, I will replace that main power wire because I have to replace the battery terminal anyways..

 

well i took some wire, put an eye on each end, ran one end to the starter bolt on the flange, other end to the battery negative...still nothing...i used a multimeter to test the voltage coming down, and i took 2 measurements using both the chasis and the block as a ground, and i got a reading of over 12 volts each time, also still getting over 12 volts to the solenoid terminal when the key is turned...so the thing has to be grounded out properly... I'm stumped guys...

 

It's possible to have voltage, but not enough current. You can have resistance in either the key feed to the solenoid, or in the main cable. Suggest 2 things.

1. To positively eliminate the neutral safety switch, take a large paper clip, cut out a piece, form it into a U. Unplug the connector at the NS switch with the big purple wires and plug in the jumper, insulate with tape. Try the starter. If that doesn't work...

2. Might try a new main cable. Those things can go bad inside the crimp.

.

 

will do. thanks for the suggestion, i'm up for anything..

 

Which could indicate a grouding problem

 

i'm back up at school now, so now i got my dad working on it. He works on it a little here, little bit there...so the turn around will be alot slower, but i'll keep you guys updated, and see what works and what doesn't work...hopefully we can get this problem resolved soon...

 

I had the same problem on my car. What you have is a bad ignition switch thats not allowing the signal from the "chip" in the key to get to the VATS module, therefore making you car think its not the right key, you can either bypass the vats, or lower the steering column and replace the ignition switch.
If you need info on how to bypass the vats email me and ill give you instructions.