***RESOLVED*** replaced dead battery, now engine doesn't turn over.
Sorry if I seem a bit angry but with this car being my only mode of transportation to work for the 6 days a week that I work and it's already costed me one day's worth of wages, I'm a bit agitated.
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As far as some of your troubleshooting steps, It's a brand new battery so I think we can rule that part out.
The starter does turn the engine and sounds like it normally does when starting it as far as I can tell, the only difference is it doesn't matter how long you have the key in the start position, it just cranks and cranks and cranks and never "turns over" to the engine itself.
After having read the service manual which I already had downloaded and looked through when checking the distributor and cap, the troubleshooting steps it mentions around the starter include the starter clutch slipping and to replace that section of the starter, or the pinion shaft being dry, dirty, etc and to inspect, clean, and test that portion of the starter.
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I don't want to come off sounding ungrateful for your knowledge and willingness to share it, because I won't be able to get any more knowledge with this if I just beat it with a wrench by myself but please don't assume that I'm just throwing money at this like I'm some lazy and retired person with too much time on my hands. Hell the car is half my age older than me at this point and I just want a good reliable daily driver that I can keep running as a monument to the respect that I have for my cousin for giving it to me and all the other things him and his family has done for me.
I agree, learning to diagnose and fix the correct problem is better. As I'm pretty much a novice under the hood and don't have a lot of free time between my two jobs and access to tons of tools, going through as I have has been a learning experience and I didn't replace all these things after one stop at the store. I spoke with the previous owner of the car (my cousin) and a trusted mopar mechanic on the phone that's about an hour away and followed the advice in troubleshooting the engine through most of the steps. I spent about 10 hours yesterday going through each individual part and trying to determine if it was the cause. Flippantly throwing money at it is a bit wrong. The rotor button was bent, replaced it. Ignition relay, my cousin had laying around and was planning on replacing it anyways. Some of the plugs wouldn't spark when in some wires so replacing all of those seemed like a good enough idea. When I first pulled the distributor cap off and looked in, I could see some oil so I sprayed some WD40 in it to clean it up and replaced the cap. The ignition coil is the only piece I "flippantly" replaced and I figured since I'm already there replacing stuff, why not throw in a new $8 part.YES!!!
Learn to troubleshoot instead of throwing parts and money at it.
I DO NOT mean that in a flippant mean manner. I mean, learn to fix it
WHAT YOU NEED to work on electrics
A multimeter, a 12V test lamp, an inline spark tester, and a selection of "alligator clip" leads
You need a FACTORY shop manual which you can download, free, from MyMopar
http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=31
Electrical is in "section 8"
Also from that site, you can download some simplified, 3rd party wiring diagrams which are sometimes easier to follow
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Next let's pin down the symptoms and narrow it down a bit more:
We need to discover EXACTLY what it is 'acting like'
First, listen carefully to "under the hood." Open the hood in a quiet area, use a second person if you need to. Twist the key to start. Hear anything? One click? One big clunk? A sort of a buzz?
Turn on the headlights and twist the key to start. What happens? They remain bright? Go somewhat dim? Go completely out?
You have a multimeter? Clip your multimeter to the battery posts and take a reading, then turn on the headlights. What is the reading? Maybe the battery is dead, maybe the battery connections are dirty
With the meter connected, twist the key to start, hold it and read the meter. What does it read?
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HOW THIS WORKS
Somewhere on your firewall you have a starter relay that looks like this
When you twist the key to "start" the key sends "start" signal on a yellow wire out the ignition switch connector, through the firewall connector, and to ONE of the small push--on terminals of that relay which is the COIL
The second push-on terminal is the other COIL connector. It runs down the firewall, over the bell housing, and to the neutral safety switch. The transmission must be in park or neutral and ground the switch to energize the relay
The "big" stud is BATTERY, hot all the time, and also is one of the contacts in the relay. When Energized, the power goes "out" the exposed "square" screw and sends power down to the starter solenoid
SOME CHECKS
Hold the key to "start" while moving the shift lever from park to neutral, listening for it to try and crank
Disconnect the small wire going to the neutral switch, and ground that relay terminal with a clip lead. Try to start it. If it cranks, then the NSS has a problem
Take a screwdriver and jumper across the two large terminals on the relay. This should energize the starter.
More to come, see what you have with this
Sorry if I seem a bit angry but with this car being my only mode of transportation to work for the 6 days a week that I work and it's already costed me one day's worth of wages, I'm a bit agitated.
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As far as some of your troubleshooting steps, It's a brand new battery so I think we can rule that part out.
The starter does turn the engine and sounds like it normally does when starting it as far as I can tell, the only difference is it doesn't matter how long you have the key in the start position, it just cranks and cranks and cranks and never "turns over" to the engine itself.
After having read the service manual which I already had downloaded and looked through when checking the distributor and cap, the troubleshooting steps it mentions around the starter include the starter clutch slipping and to replace that section of the starter, or the pinion shaft being dry, dirty, etc and to inspect, clean, and test that portion of the starter.
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I don't want to come off sounding ungrateful for your knowledge and willingness to share it, because I won't be able to get any more knowledge with this if I just beat it with a wrench by myself but please don't assume that I'm just throwing money at this like I'm some lazy and retired person with too much time on my hands. Hell the car is half my age older than me at this point and I just want a good reliable daily driver that I can keep running as a monument to the respect that I have for my cousin for giving it to me and all the other things him and his family has done for me.