Went and had the new starter checked...ok. Reinstalled and it started, turned it off and tried to restart it.... Nothing!

 

Were you talking about the ignition key switch assembly being wornout or was it something else? Thank you.

 

I'm going to test the signal wire again this afternoon as well as the starter. What are the odds it's the ignition switch...I don't think it is but I could be wrong....any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Not sure if the wiring is the same on the '99, but here are the diagrams for the ignition circuit from my '01 FSM.

Looks like you should be able to pull the engine starter motor relay when you have the no start condition and test inputs to that relay to see if everything is correct. Pin 85 should be grounded. If not, you may have a bad Park/Neutral position switch. Pin 86 should have +12V when the key is turned to start. If not, you can check the bypass jumper on the clutch safety switch plug. Pin 30 should also have +12V provided through the #9 fuse in the PDC.

 

Thanks for the diag. I tripple checked all my connections w/a volt/ohom meter then...I took the same new starter back to a diff AutoZone, it tested good. They didn't want to swap it out but after convincing them it was the solenoid, they finally did. I reinstalled it, checked everything twice and it fired right up 3x. I would not recommend buying a starter from Auto Zone and wouldn't have done it originally had I known I'd be changing them every two-three years and having added difficulties. Knocking on wood that the issue has been resolved.

 

If it was the solenoid contacts that were shorting out, you can pick up a set of heavy duty replacement contacts from fostertruck.com. I put them in mine a couple of summers ago when mine started showing the same symptoms. When I replaced them, one of the stock ones was completely burned off. The other was getting really close. The HD ones were a lot larger for a better contact area.

 

Thank you. I'll probably end up doing this when it begins to show signs of failure....however I'm not sure about the AZ starters.....seems like junk in = junk out.