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Won't start

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drooartz

drooartz

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Went out to go for drive after work, and the Tunebug wouldn't start. I had electricity, choke out, pulled the starter and the engine spun and tried to catch. Pulled again and it spun for a few seconds. Pulled again and nothing. No click, no spin, nothing.

Cable pull to the starter is fine. Checked for continuity across the switch and when I pulled the cable, there was flow between the posts. Checked for continuity between the starter case and ground at the battery, and it was good. Removed and cleaned the battery ground connection at the firewall. Still nothing.

Next I tried turning the little nut on the end of the starter that is supposed to free the starter if it is stuck in the ring gear. This turned pretty easily, but didn't help. What else do I try? Pulling the starter looks like a real pain, so I'd like to exhaust my other options before going to that.
 
So it cranked at first - engaged and wouldn't engage afterwards (later try), did it make a high speed wrrrlll sound like it was spinning or not spinning at all nuttin?
 
Once it stopped cranking I got absolutely nothing. No wrrrlll. Pull the cable and get no sound at all.
 
Drew,

I know on my car, the terminal on the bottom post of the starter switch is awful close to the body of the car. A PO had wrapped the end in insulating tape, but one time (after my first oil change) I was cranking the engine (in 3-4 second bursts) with the key off to try to build up oil pressure prior to starting it, and all of the sudden it quick cranking. The lead had gotten hot and melted through the insulating tape and was shorting out.

Of course in my case it was pretty obvious I had a short of some sorts (puff of smoke), but you might check to make sure you don't have a short either at the post or at the starter connection.
 
Jump directly to the starter to see if it turns?
 
Kurtis, you're a genius. I took off the lead from the switch to the starter and there was a bit of a crack in the insulation. I cleaned up the contacts and wrapped the cable where the crack was, and it now spins over. Must have been grounding out on the case before. I'm back in business!
 
Drew,

I'm glad it *was* something that simple!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Kurtis

Turn your starter over so the terminal is outboard and not next to the block.

[/ QUOTE ]

My starter wasn't the problem. It was the lower terminal on the switch. I was missing a proper boot on the connection.
 
Mine was the connection at the starter itself. There was just a small gap between the boot and the cable itself, just enough to ground out. Figures it would be a problem with one of the few wires I didn't replace when I did the harness.
 
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