Ignition / starting problems

[Rengo]

I need someone to talk to me one on one via Pm.
1975 Ply Duster 225 auto
I can turn the key to start the car and I get nothing, the lights come on, but the engine is not trying to turn over.

1. I want a list of all of the ground locations so I can check the one by one.
I know the engine block, up in front of the battery, on the starter..

2. Could this be the coil? P.S. is there a ground on the coil? If so mine is missing.

 

[67Dart273]

1--With a front mount battery the battery is grounded directly to the engine

Secondly, either or both, the engine is also grounded to the body, and the battery is grounded to the body. You need at least one of the body grounds

2--Bad coil will not prevent an engine from cranking

In your engine bay you have a starter relay similar to this:

This relay is tied into the neutral safety switch on the transmission

The two "push on" terminals are the coil of the relay. One terminal gets power "in start" from the ignition switch, goes through the coil, and must see a ground through the other terminal to the neutral safety switch in "park" or "neutral."

The large stud/ nut terminal is a battery junction point, and also one of the relay contacts

The large "square" terminal is the second contact and feeds down to the starter solenoid.

Very first thing to do is twist and hold the key to start with one hand, and with the other hand, "wiggle" the shifter through park, neutral and see if you get cranking or a click

If not, go out and find the relay under the hood

Identify the "push on" terminal that goes down to the transmission. Remove that wire, and use a clip lead to ground the terminal on the relay which you just unhooked

Try the key, being careful to stay in park, as it will now "crank in any gear."

If this does not work, you either are not getting power from the key, or the relay might be bad



use a screwdriver or other metal object such as a wrench to jumper across the two largest exposed terminals on the relay. The engine should crank. If it does, at least you know the battery main connections and starter is OK

If the starter cranks when jumpering the two large relay terminals, now you need to discover if this is a bad relay, or a "power from the key" problem

With the terminal you started with STILL jumpered to ground with a clip lead, remove the remaining "push on" terminal. Take a screwdriver or clip lead and jumper from the "big nut" (stud) terminal over to this small "push on" terminal.

If the engine cranks, you have no power from the ignition switch

If it does not crank, you have a bad relay

 

[68gtxman]

67Dart273 - what a great explanation! You nailed this one as you always do.rayer:

 

[Rengo]

Okay, the relay was replaced a few weeks back, I unhooked both clips and replaced the ends and checked all of the grounds that I could find, I also replaced my rotor cap because the old one was pretty beat up. The car starts fine now, in the past I could let it set for the weekend and it would have the issue, so this would tell me that it is from the key if it does not start on Monday. Thank you for all of the help.

 

[67Dart273]

?? Uh, whut ??

 

[BillGrissom]

... the lights come on, but the engine is not trying to turn over.

2. Could this be the coil? P.S. is there a ground on the coil? If so mine is missing.

it is from the key if it does not start on Monday

Step 1 is turning the engine over, so get that working before you worry about spark. 273 told you how to trouble-shoot that. However, from your later writings, I wonder if that is the problem. Maybe "not trying to turn over" means "engine turns over, but doesn't fire"?

Anyway, the coil body is not grounded, indeed the windings inside must be isolated from ground.

I also didn't follow the last sentence. Electrical problems don't usually change over a weekend. Good luck on Monday. If you need to get to work, have 2 alligator jumper wires ready (~18 awg). To power the ignition, run one from BATT+ to one side of the ballast, and the other side of the ballast to coil+, with no other wires on the ballast. You can even bypass the ballast, which will spark better until the coil gets too hot and starts missing (~5 min). Disconnect from BATT+ once you get to work or your battery will drain.

 

[67Dart273]

Electrical problems don't usually change over a weekend. Good luck on Monday.

LOL.........Pretty much my thinking here.................