I am working on my daughter's '94 MX3, which has been in storage for about a year. Today, after I installed a new battery I got no current when I turned the key to "on." The Chilton's book describes an anti-theft system that is connected to the radio, which appears to be capable of disabling the starting system. I wonder if this is the problem since I did not know to disable the system before I removed the old battery. Of course, since the old battery was completely discharged and had been for months, I might not have been able to disable the anti-theft system anyway.
Can anyone help with this problem? I'm not sure how to proceed.
One other factor that could play into this: I have removed both air bags because they were deployed. I'm not sure if the starting system includes anything in the air bag circuits so I suppose this could also be a problem.
Any ideas? Thanks.
Starting system problem - '94 MX3
Hi there 94dad,
You may be looking into it all a bit deeply... theres really not much that will disable the starting system. When you say
You may be looking into it all a bit deeply... theres really not much that will disable the starting system. When you say
do you mean no lights on the dash - just nothing at all - or that it won't crank?I got no current when I turned the key to "on."
“You’ll find, that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that’s hardly worth the effort.”
`Grants wrote:Hi there 94dad,
You may be looking into it all a bit deeply... theres really not much that will disable the starting system. When you saydo you mean no lights on the dash - just nothing at all - or that it won't crank?I got no current when I turned the key to "on."
When I turn the key, I get nothing. No dash lights, no sounds, nothing. It's as if the battery wasn't connected to the car but I have checked the battery cable connections and they're both clean and tight.
I am still learning about mx-3s - so i am sorry if my advice is totally wrong - but my guess would be a blown fuse in the fuse box in the driver side leg/knee area. I blew a fuse called "room" in that box once - and i didnt get anything on the instrument cluster - but the car will start even if that fuse was blown. If it wont even crank and everything appears dead - then i would check the main fusible link and the main fuses under the hood.
Check the fuses in the engine bay - theres one called main.
Theres a diagram here if that helps... page 47 shows the start system.
http://www.mx3er.com/Info/1994%20Wiring%20diagrams.pdf
Let us know if we can add to this.
Theres a diagram here if that helps... page 47 shows the start system.
http://www.mx3er.com/Info/1994%20Wiring%20diagrams.pdf
Let us know if we can add to this.
“You’ll find, that the only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that’s hardly worth the effort.”
Thanks. I will check this out later today and get back to you all with results.Grants wrote:Check the fuses in the engine bay - theres one called main.
Theres a diagram here if that helps... page 47 shows the start system.
http://www.mx3er.com/Info/1994%20Wiring%20diagrams.pdf
Let us know if we can add to this.
The main fuse was the problem. It's not quite as simple as replacing any of the other fuses because it's bolted to the fuse box but 10 minutes is all it took to give life to my daughter's car.
Thanks especially to Grants for pointing me in the direction of the fuse box under the hood. I'd have gotten there eventually but it was great to get a quick assist in the forum.
Thanks especially to Grants for pointing me in the direction of the fuse box under the hood. I'd have gotten there eventually but it was great to get a quick assist in the forum.
I would not be surprised if the main fuse blew when the car was involved in a traffic accident. The air bags deployed, which might have tripped the fuse. In any event, it's not yet back on the road. Replacing the air bags and the windshield would cost nearly as much as the car is worth, so I've not yet decided what the next step will be. One option is to make the repairs, of course, but it's also possible that we'll decide to sell the car as is or part it out.Grants wrote:The only question i guess is WHY did it blow...
Great to see its back on the road!
If I decide to sell or part out the car, I'll definitely post something on this forum to give folks here the first crack at it.
Thanks again for the tip.