OK, so the engine is finally in as of yesterday. For those who are not familiar with my project, it's a 93 car, with a 94 engine and 94 harness. It also has ALL the interior YELLOW stuff changed to 94+ style. This is OK because I drove the car with this stuff on the old engine and it was working fine.
So I installed the new engine, the tranny is the same (700R4) and when I went to crank it today (fuel lines were not connected) the starter just wouldn't react. I noticed the "Check gages" light was on, the service engine light was on, and whenever I tried to crank it, the ABS INOP and LOW COOLANT light would go on.
I understand the ABS INOP stuff because the lines don't have any fluid in them (and by the way, the brake pedal is dead stuck right now... is this normal?) but what about the low coolant light? As soon as I try to start it, I can hear some relay click and the low coolant will show up with the ABS INOP.


I can't think of anything else other than having a short somewhere or the 94 harness not being compatible with the 93 interior harness and modules. Does anyone have an idea about what could be wrong?

Also, I could not press the tranny shifter button or move the shifter for that matter. I'm guessing this is due to not being able to press the brake pedal?

Thanks!

 

Make sure your grounds all check out and you dont have any "extra" grounds

 

It is a ground problem, more than likey the one on the side of the block.

To verify use a jumper cable from the battery neg terminal to bare metal on the frame and try to start it then.

 

You mean the one on the block near the starter? If yes, then that bolt broke and the nut is holding on to just a few threads.... I'll try jumping the negative terminal and if it works, then I'll figure some way to replace/relocate that ground.
Thanks.

 

yes, its between 2 and 4 if i remember correctly.

 

yeah be carefull if you painted your bock you will want to file it off there so you can get a cood contact.

 

If you think it may be your starter, check it first.. Just hook it to a battery by itself with jumper cables. The negative to a ground on the starter, and the positive to the big terminal on the starter. It should crank over then. This is all with the starter completely out of the car.

Is it just making a loud click, like the solenoid on the starter moves but nothing happens? Mine did the same thing, so I took it out and had it tested, and it was fine. So I put it back in and everything worked.

Shoebox has a good picture on his site of where the three wire go that are by the starter. Good luck

 

I don't think it's the starter making the click.... it's some other relay.
The starter is dead quiet and I tried jumping the negative today and it didn't help. (I don't see how it could've helped anyway since there's already the cable coming from the negative terminal and connecting to the ground near the passenger side strut tower)....

 

The battery has two main ground. One is that post, the other is on the block. Even if one is working, the other has to be in good shape too or you will get odd results like you got.

My car when the ground was corroded would have all interior lights etc, but the starter would just click, not turn. Re grounded the battery and started right away. Sorry that wasnt your problem

 

I think you may be reffering to the motor mount ground. That one is fine on my car. The one that I was talking about is right near the starter. Rob's picture here.

 

It is not the one you just pictured, sorry for that original confusion. It is the ground stud on the block itself, as i said before right between 2 and 4. Might want to snug that one up a tad and see what happens, cant hurt.

 

What harnesses are you using and from what car. Its a bit confusing in your post. are you just using the engine harness from the 94 or?