started the Z up this afternoon, started fine, let it idle in the driveway for 5 mins to warm up (and show off the sound to some buddies).

backed out of the driveway and stalled it as i tried to pull out in 1st (touchy clutch and cam combo...very easy to stall).

go to restart it and NOTHING

not even a click or a partial crank.

all the accessories work. almost acts like the neutral safety switch is bad. it's like trying to start it with the clutch out.

checked the fuses to the ignition and starter...swapped them around and didnt get anything (could still be bad i suppose).

what and where is the safety switch located??

any other ideas? something in the ignition system?

strangest thing since the car was running for over 5 mins seconds before it wouldn't even turn over

 

If you follow the clutch pedal and go up, you will see a flat metal piece on the pedal. It should contact a plastic piece that is also flat and looks like a square. When you press the pedal down, this should go in and you can start the car.

 

It's either that or your starter just took a dump.

 

thanks for the info on the switch...

as for the starter...why would it kick it so suddenly? i've NEVER had a problem starting...

and any other starter i've had go, it always at least made some kind of noise when it tried to start.

 

Might want to try your 2nd set of keys. This happened with my LT1 so it might be different, but a piece of bandaid or something got stuck over the resistor ("chip") on my key and the car did from what I remember, exactly what yours did. Accesories would turn on but it wouldn't even crank or give signs of life in the engine bay.

Anyways, it is one more thing to try, hope you figure it out.

 

well first off...don't have a second set of keys.....yeah yeah...i know...stupid.

second...

if that were the issue the "security" light would stay illuminated. i've had that happen before. the light comes on when i first turn the key on, but then goes out...so i know it's not a that.

 

forgive me if this is wrong (my experience is on SBC's) but my truck would frequently overheat the soleniod on the starter. It would run fine, I'd turn it off and try to restart and get nothing. Not even a click. They can go out suddenly but mine was always from my header heat (1/4 inch /= sufficent airgap)

 

DanBUCF up here has a somewhat similar problem Teke but his is more frequent. You can try and start it and no click, no crank, nothing. We think it might be his aftermarket alarm system, but we're not sure. It's been doing this for a very long time, and seems to be completely random. You can turn the key a hundred times before it'll start, or sometimes it starts in the first couple tries. His neutral safety switch is good, we already tested that. It's right behind the clutch pedal on a bracket like posted above.

Abe

 

hmmm...interesting...

but i have some updates.

- battery and terminals are good.
- neutral safety switch is good

pulled the starter and tested it at the parts store...seemed to work fine.

played around with it in the driveway with jumper cables...worked fine.

cleaned off the power connecter surfaces, bolted the power lines back up to it but DIDN'T install the starter.
clipped the negative jumper cable line to the housing on the starter...STARTER AND SOLINOID worked like a charm.

i checked the wire connectors on the cables and they seemed solid. so i have several ideas:

- ground to the block was bad not allowing the circuit to complete..hence NO clicks or turns
- jiggled the wires and reconnected something loose
- starter and/or solinoid was froze up and took some man-handling to free it up

gonna bolt it all back in tomorrow and see what happens.

[cross fingers] [/cross finger]

 

oh the joy of electrical problems that will remain a mystery...

 

My old 3.4 '94 did that. I dont know what hte cause was either. Sometimes i'd have to turn the key off then on then off then... BLA maybe 20 times before it'd start. I also ruled out the starter, neutral switch, AND spare keys. ? remains a mystery ?

 

Jeff, do you have that beast running yet?

 

this thing is definately a mystery.

got home today and first thing i did was "test start" the car...starter and solenoid worked as they should on first turn.

bolted the thing back in and NOTHING

what the hell!!!!!

tried wiggling the wires, tried clipping the jumper cables to ground it...nothing.

pulled the damn thing back out, didn't touch anything, other than using the jumper cables as the ground.
WORKED LIKE A CHAMP on the first turn of the key.

frustrated and running out of light again. i bolted it back up. first turn it worked like it should.

let it idle a little while to relearn the idle a/f (runs rough for a few minutes after clearing the volitile memory). turned it off and it started fine.

not sure what i did.

i rechecked all the wires when i pulled it the 2nd time. nothing was loose or even very flexible like it was partially broken.

we'll see if it strands me again.

 

the bitch stranded me at the local bar tonite...after a semi-labored start in the driveway.

i'm still getting no sound from the starter. just a dead silence when i turn the key.

the way the car barely turned over when it DID start makes me think that maybe there is something wrong with the starter motor that isn't allowing it to produce the torque needed to spin the motor.

although since the solenoid isn't even clicking...maybe it is a bad connection. almost like NO voltage is getting to the starter unit.

grrr....


it push started and ran fine...by the way....so it's all in the starting system

 

Could just be the solenoid taking a crap on ya. Can you replace just the solenoid on these starters?