no start after sitting

69 dart 360, 727
turn the key and there is nothing. put car in neutral and tried to start it, nothing. pulled the neutral safety switch ground wire off the starter relay. ran a jumper wire from the starter relay nss ground terminal to the ground on the battery and the car fired right up. Once started it will fire up every time. after it sits all night it won't start.

feel stupid not knowing how to test if its a bad starter relay, NSS,or wiring issue.

And are you getting power to circuits prior to that? Do the headlights come on when it wont start? Could be a poor battery connection somewhere and the charge (heat expansion) temporarily corrects it until it cools back down (a bit outthere but ya never know) I've seen where turning the headlights on can pull enough amps to correct a bad ground.

69FBCuda said:

And are you getting power to circuits prior to that? Do the headlights come on when it wont start? Could be a poor battery connection somewhere and the charge (heat expansion) temporarily corrects it until it cools back down (a bit outthere but ya never know) I've seen where turning the headlights on can pull enough amps to correct a bad ground.

Click to expand...

headlights come on, dome light, radio all work. (haven't tried starting it with headlights on)

My experience with starter relays has been they will get flaky. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't until they finally fail. Ignition switch is another good place to start.

Test the “start” wire on the relay with a test light or meter, it’s the yellow wire on my 70. If you have power there when you hit the key, it’s probably the relay. I’ve had to replace mine 4 times in 4 years.

Starter relays are simple. The "big stud" is a junction point AND one contact. The big "Square" terminal is the other contact and feeds power down to the starter

The two flag "push on" terminals are the relay coil, the electromagnet

The functional path is ignition switch--- YELLOW start wire---through the bulkhead connector---to one of the relay push on terminals..........through the relay coil........down to the transmission.......to the neutral safety switch center terminal

(The outer terminals on a 3 pin NSS are the backup light switch)

Wiggle/ move the shifter while twisting the key to start. Any click or try to crank indicates either a bad switch, mis--adjusted linkage, or sometimes a problem with the "rooster comb" in the transmission

YOU NEED to get a test light, multimeter, and some alligator clip leads so you can do testing.

"Rig" a test light or meter onto the yellow start wire connection. Do this WITHOUT disconnecting from the relay. Twist the key, see if you have voltage.

If you do have voltage, and it won't click, or crank...........

Now move to the wire going to the NSS. Twist the key, see if you have voltage. You should not. With the transmission in N or P the switch should be ground.

If both these check out and it won't crank it is likely the relay. You can make a final check

Take a clip lead or even screwdriver. Jumper from the big stud to the terminal of the relay that was connected to the yellow. If it does not crank, pull the NSS wire off, and ground that terminal with a jumper wire. Again jumper 12V to the first terminal. IN other words, you ground either flag terminal, and connect 12V to the remaining one. DOES NOT MATTER which is which. If it will not crank,

Try jumpering across the big stud and the big square screw. If it does crank, replace the relay

I should have also noted that I have a B&M quicksilver shifter (cable shifted)

That really does not matter. Anything can get out of adjustment, either factory or aftermarket. Are you using the shifter switch or the original trans mounted switch for NSS?

transmission switch not shifter switch
. I was able to test the yellow wire on my lunch break. I've got power while cranking. doesn't do anything.
had the power wire on the battery + and the ground wire on the nss wire and it just stayed at 9v with or without cranking.

Wish you could get cowgirl to do a strip tease

skep419 said:

transmission switch not shifter switch
. I was able to test the yellow wire on my lunch break. I've got power while cranking. doesn't do anything.
had the power wire on the battery + and the ground wire on the nss wire and it just stayed at 9v with or without cranking.

Click to expand...

Confused. But sounds like the NSS is not making. NSS should be at ground when in park or neutral. For a final test, pull the NSS wire off at the relay. Jumper that relay terminal to ground and see if it cranks. Be careful that it is in P as it will crank in any gear

That was the first thing I did. Fires right up with the nss wire jumped to ground.

Then I'd say you have found it. Misadjusted, bad switch, bad wire, bad connection

I had the key turned cranking and went through every gear and it didn't do anything. That should rule out misadjusted. shouldn't be to hard to test the wire. thanks for all the help

Listen up!

Your NSS is not making! You have a bad NSS, trans comb or wiring to it! and or poor linkage adjustment. Get your head out of the sweetness In your pics and think! Or just keep Dreaming!

Could be simple as linkage adjustment. With OEM shifters, park is where it is. dont take much to loose that. Shifters neutral gate usually has enough wiggle in it to find a sweet spot. Hold the key in start position while moving the shifter. If adjustment is the problem, the relay should click at some point.
May not be adjustment. If the NSS switch is worn, leaking fluid into connections will come and go.
Years ago My bro-in-law ( RIP catfish ) had same issue with his chevy pick up. Most times it would start, once in a while he would have to push the thing away from the gas pumps because it wouldn't start until it decided to. I found the signal wire from switch to starter cut and pieced in 3 places, household wire nut at one, loose tape at another, corroded green wires twisted together. I cured it.
You could put a ohms meter on the brown wire at starter relay. You want very close to zero resistance in park and neutral at every repeated test.