1999 4WD 120K miles

Trouble starting

Just replaced the starter last week, and has two good batteries. So I have a good starter, batteries, and fuel flow. Wont crank at all.

I have had this happen before, turn the ignition switch, and no crank, and you dont even hear the starter relay. Fuel relay does work, and you hear the lift pump. It might have something to do with the neutral safety switch.

Bottom line, is that it didnt start today, and had to ride the motorcycle?

How do I diagnose? Switch out the starter relay on the engine driver's side?
Bypass the neutral safety switch (How?)

Where do I put a meter? (BTW, Im an electrical engineer, so if pointed in the right direction, can diagnose this.

Thanks

Mike

 

mine did some weird stuff this weekend, no start dead, put an extra battery on and it started, drove it for 3 weeks on vacation no problem drove it all day no problem then went to take trailer off truck no juice dead. put small charge on the batteries and started right up. and kept starting. will have to load test batteries individually and all connections seem ok. have to isolate the problem to battery or starter. ED

 

I'm guessing you have an auto from your neutral safety switch comment.
Did you try moving the shifter up into park further?

If that doesn't work I would try it in neutral.

The next step I would take after that is to clip a wire on the little terminal on the starter and jump it to make sure the starter is ok and it starts, remember, make sure its in park or neutral if its a manual.

You can switch the starter relay in the box with another one in there and try that, there is also a fuse in the fuse box for the starter, I blew that one out when my big wire going to the starter corroded away.

 

New parts can fail also , so start from the beginning , must use a load tester , on batteries , alt. & starter .
Then look at connections , all , battery cables , both ends , Pos & neg , then fusible links at batteries .
Now if you still have a problem , use a test lite to see where you lose power from ing. sw. to starter .
I would not change / eliminate any of the parts , like neutral safety sw. , unless its just to get you back to a good place to work on .

 

Got it started

Swapped out the starter relay, no crank

Looked for a fuse in the fuse box, none marked starter fuse

Disconnected the 3 wire neutral safety switch connector from the auto trans, and jumpered the middle wire to ground.

Amazing, it starts.

Put the connector back on the trannie, and it still starts. Must have been loose or dirty

Plan now is to clip the middle wire on the connector and hard wire it to ground. This is a single point failure that leaves the truck in a no-start position.

Any comments on why I shouldnt hard wire the neutral safety line to ground?

Thx for the help

Mike

 

Other than it starting in gear and possibly killing someone?

If you wanted a fail safe, why not do something like that with a 3 position, wire it so that in the on position, it would work through the N safety, off could be a theft deterrent, and a momentary that you would have to hold closed while cranking to prevent someone from just reaching in and starting it, possibly in gear?

 

Resolving issue does not require such drastic measure.
Make sure the shift linkage is properlly adjusted. Linkage tends to wear with age and plastic busings go away. Inspect for issues. I adjsut linkage so starts dead in middle of the neutral position from either direction of shifter movement.
Next, if switch is bad,of course replace it. If connector is damaged, hardened, frayed or whatever, just go to a salvage yard and cut off from a chrysler product that is not damaged.

 

I think I will tie the middle wire into a switch under the dash. Security and fail safe starting in one modification

 

Yep, certainly would fool would be thieves!