MX-3.com

My winter beater has developed an odd issue over the past few months...

Initially, it was the starter that was a bit wonky. Solenoid would fire but starter wouldn't turn, so I dismissed it as a bad contact in the solenoid. If you re-started it over and over eventually it would take. (clunk clunk clunk clunk vroom)

Then that stopped working, but I could start it under the hood with a screwdriver across the starter terminals.

Now it doesn't have ignition at all, and turning the key to 'start' has no effect whatsoever. You can still get it to crank via screwdriver, but no spark.

Tried disty, starter is mechanically fine, thinking harness, grounds, or ECU is next... anyone have any similar experience?


I guess I should mention its a 93? ATX with a 92? KLDE MTX swap.

did you fool the ecu into thinking it's in neutrel or did swap ecus as well?

Wired PN switch into neutral switch on mtx. I've tried shorting that out, no change

Troubleshoot the ignition switch. Once experienced similar symptoms with a different car.

I believe the igniter and coil get their ground through the ignition switch.

If the ignition switch itself is not at fault you might get lucky and find a flaky ground under the hood.

davmac, that is a good suggestion. I'll see what I can do. Its multimeter time.

let me know if you sort it out, mine is, well actually still is doing the same thing. Ive tried a few different starters but I am leaning more towards a bad ignition due to the fact I can turn mine about 20 degrees without engaging/disengaging anything.

Just a heads up,

I haven't solved it totally, but I do suspect it is the ignition switch wiring. The car has an immobilizer, alarm, and autostart. Huge rats nest under the dash was pulling on the big 4 pin connector. I push on the connector and the starter solenoid fires (But the battery is dead, that's the part I haven't yet sorted out)