Ignition system, battery to starter/solenoid
Hi everyone
1969 Dart, 225 /6, 904 trans, no starter relay or battery +ve cable.
..... realised that I actually do need the starter relay to tie the driver side system parts as I reference them (battery, starter relay, starter/solenoid) with the passenger side system parts (ballast resistor, coil, dizzy, plugs) or do I ? From the FSM it looks like the 'I' terminal on the relay is the link between the two sides of the ignition system. Given I don't have the relay yet (will order it of course) can I simply run a jumper from battery +ve to the terminal on the ballast resistor receiving the 'ignition 2' feed and running the 14DBL wire to the coil and put a switch somewhere along this jumper to act as an pseudo ignition switch in the meantime ? Apologies if this sounds like a baffoonish idea.
I believe you are in fact confused. The starter relay does not "tie" anything together.
HERE IS HOW the basics of the start/ ignition circuit(s) PLURAL they are SEPARATE circuits work:
FIRST the ignition switch has "certain" specific outputs and that is the source of ALL switched power in the car except headlights, tail/ park lights, brake lights, and hazard flashers, and dome lights. All of THAT is switched by the switches controlling them, as they are supplied "hot" and not through the ignition switch
IGNITION SWITCH has specific outputs which are DIVORCED from each other to prevent backfeen in some cases
1....ACCESSORY---hot in both "run" and "accessory", ACC feeds a big wire to the buss in the FUSE PANEL, through a few fuses, and off to accessories like radio, heater, etc
2....RUN........important........"the RUN" position of the key and the "RUN" output is ONLY hot in the "RUN" position. IT is DEAD in "accessory" and more important it is dead in "START"
3....and......START....There are TWO separate switch contacts that are BOTH hot in "start" They are the yellow "START" wire which feeds through the bulkhead and fires the "start" relay
4....The second is the brown bypass circuit to the coil side of the ballast. THIS ESSENTIALLY feeds full hot battery power, during cranking, to the coil+ AND IS THE source of coil power during start.
There is only one way I know of to crank the starter if you do not have a relay. If the key is all wired up as it should be, simply turn the key to "run" to supply coil power. Then with the battery hooked up, jumper a wire/ screwdriver across the two stud terminals of the STARTER.
The wires going to the relay should be "safed" off, that is temporarily "taped." The exceptions are "whatever" wires went to the big stud, with big 5/16 ring ends. These wires must be jumpered together, whatever and how ever many there are.
The big "square screw" terminal is the wire going down to the starter solenoid. This must be "safed" off The two "push on" flag terminals should already be insulated.
HOW THE STARTER RELAY WORKS. The starter solenoid on Mopars draws a LOT of current, so they use a relay to activate the solenoid AND THE starter relay is also part of the neutral safety switch circuit
The "big stud" on the relay is one contact of the relay and also a junction point for BATTERY. Depending on car model/ year it may have additional connections to that stud to draw off battery power for other components.
The "big square screw" is the other contact and has a fairly large wire which goes to the starter solenoid terminal. When activated, the starter relay POWERS this wire
The two "push on" flag terminals are the coil electromagnet One connects to the transmission "neutral safety switch" which is GROUNDED in park or neutral. The other terminal goes to the START terminal on the ignition switch. So IF the key is twisted to start, the yellow wire is hot, powers the start relay which is getting it's ground path through the neutral switch IF THE TRANSMISSION is in park or neutral
