Help! My "other" SVX won't start.
 

OK, sorta O/T, but it's a slow newsday.
My weekend warrior, the '88 mopar mini-van is being naughty.
It pretty much sits on weekdays, & is used on weekends when the batmobile is resting in the batcave.

Need vittles. Time to go grocery shopping. I go to start it. Nothing.
Dead silence. OK, I've had this happen before. It's usually the battery, or the battery cables crudded up. I pop the hood. The underhood light's bright. YES- IT HAS ONE OF THESE!!! Huh? Light's bright? I go back to driver's seat & turn on headlights. BRIGHT! Turn on A/C fan - runs! But - still no crank or click when key turned. I play with tranny lever - try neutral - still nothing. Turn signals, wipers & radio no workee. Hazard lights work. Interior lights bright.

So - I deduce it ain't the two year old K-Mart Penske battery. I crack open the manual, page 112. There's a relay on the fuse panel for the ignition switch & the ignition key courtesy light. The courtesy light IS working. Hmmm. I go back under hood. There's a row of four little 1"x 2" silver rectangularish "relays" mounted in a row inside the fender. I remember having one of these replaced a while back due to "starting problem". I beat on all of them with a screwdriver. Try to start again. Ziltch. Any ideas? I'm trying to avoid a 12 mile tow to "Homer" who's gonna probably tell me a got another bad relay. Go ahead - make my day!

Thanks, Ron.

PS - I used the SVX to go buy groceries. She's not accustomed to being used this way. Please help.

Sorry to hear of your problem Ron,

As I don't know the extent of your savvy electriics wise I am not sure where to start. If I did I would give some leads on tracing the starter circuit through with a simple trouble lamp which is in many ways better than a multi meter as it has a more substantial current drain.

However on the basis of your investigations so far I would suggest you check the four relays you describe and if these are the plug in type see if there are two or more the same. Check the labels for simillar numbers or codes and exchange any which are identical. If the starter works and something else does not you have located the problem.

On a more scientific note try and trace the turn signals, wipers and radio circuits on the diagram, presuming one is included in the manual. The fact that these are not working indicates that the common feed to these circuits is open. Fuse ?, connection ?, ignition switch faulty ?. Follow the diagram and your nose as it were. It"s not that complicated, think of it as a water pipe ( wire or connector ) which must be broken somewhere or a tap not turning on ( faulty switch relay or open fuse. )

I may be telling you how to suck eggs and you may be well versed in all this. If so no offence intended. Don't give in and come back with what else you discover as further help is here and waiting. PM if you like.

The first item I'd check would be the starter. Touch a test light to the small terminal on the starter and have someone else turn the key to 'start'. If the lamp lights up your starter or solenoid is bad, if not we have another issue. Check it out and post back.

The relay that you had replaced earlier was probably the ASD relay (automatic shut down) it cuts the power to the ignition, injection and fuel pump, and has nothing to do with the starter cranking. Chryslers used to have a starter relay on the firewall, but it's been many years since they've used them, or at least I can't remember seeing one in a long time.

On a wierd possiblity it may be the key cylinder. Mine has been doing this for the last month and a half. If my key is sitting slightly off in the key cylinder, it turns as if to start, but gets nothing. If I simply turn the key back and forth about 10 times, one time it will make contact and start up. It's quite annoying, but heck it's worth a shot.

Thanks to all so far - I have no test equipment per say, other than the ability to tap on things & look for broken or corroded wires. There was no early indication of this problem, as this car would fire up instantly even though it would sit unused for 5 days. The only "difference" has been the weather which changed from unbearably hot 'n miserable, to rainy, cool 'n miserable. Possibly moisture related? I'll keep playing & jiggling things. Rubber mallet time.

Ron.

If you're prone to wailing on things that aren't doing things that they should (damn, I could show my chauvinistic side here) whack on the starter while someone tries to start the van. Just stay clear of anything that can grab ya when it starts, unless you really need the feeling of companionship.... ;)

I'm sure you're mature enough to remember Andy Griffith saying "Just spit in the back and give it a whack, that's what my daddy always did to get our ol' radio working."

"No Time for Sergeants" -- still one of my all time "faves.":)

Ron,

Your other SVX obviously has a bad case of "Moparitis."

or

Try adding 'Box-O-Start' :D

Mopar Magical Mystery Tour - Part II

So I decide to celebrate Labor day by laboring on the van.
Using everyone's suggestions except those that offered actual logic, I began to tap on everything deemed suspect, with a socket wrench handle; the starter, all them relays, battery connections, hell - even the radiator, 'cause it was convenient to do so. Then go back to driver's seat, & monkey a lot with the ignition key & shift lever.
Turn key - still dead.
I go back & look underhood. I look at all them little plastic connectors & push to firm'em up. Nothing seems amiss. Then I stare..... When all else fails I tend to stare - usually into space. But, this time I stare at all the wiring. What's this?
I see a broken wire!! No, it's not broken, it's missing!!
Between two of those trapizoid shaped rubber thingies, one of which bundled wires into the firewall, the other bundled the opposite ends toward the battery, are about seven exposed 22ish gauged wires of various colors. These wires were tie-wrapped to another plastic conduit doing lord knows what. Anyway, I see about an inch of orange wire extending from one rubber thingie, & the same from the other thingie, but NOTHING IN THE MIDDLE. CUT!!! A 3 inch piece of wire is
MISSING!! Now, there's no way this neatly cut wire could be the cause of my problems. I mean it was probably like this from day one, & it was one of those wires for an accessory that the car didn't have. Then I see the missing piece! A 3 inch matching wire piece is lying on a fender strut just below the wiring bundle. Still - I say "No way did this little wire sever itself in two places during this week". I also don't believe the squirrels have evolved THAT far, to know how to retaliate, for my flattening a family member last month.
Nonetheless, I figure what's to lose? I find a 22 guage speaker wire & twist it on the stipped ends of the orange wires.
I get into driver's seat, insert key, close eyes, turn key & guess what??



WHAM! IT STARTS!! All's right with the world!
I let it idle & listen to the once dead stereo.
I decide I'll drive it to Homer's garage this week & let him do a better job on the wire connections.

But now I'm really spooked. (A little music from The Twilight Zone, please). How did this happen? I've had corroded wires break at a stress point, usually after I forced them somehow, but this?!!
I swear on a stack of SVX shop manuals I'm not making all this up.
Supernatural guesses accepted.

Ron.

Maybe someone was getting ready to insert a remote controlled device that would give them the power to let you start your van, or not. Kinda like Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men, when he keeps changing Jack Lemmon's tv channels next door...

The wire is obviously the signal wire to the starter solenoid, but how did it get cut? Got any enemies in the neighborhood, Ron? Can you spell pipe bomb? :eek: :D

The wire is obviously the signal wire to the starter solenoid, but how did it get cut? Got any enemies in the neighborhood, Ron? Can you spell pipe bomb? :eek: :D [/B][/QUOTE]


Other than the rodents, no known enemies. The van's parked in a driveway in a quiet, (except for neighbor's occasional orgy) neighborhood. However, I WILL try to sleep with one eye open for a while.

Ron.

critters
 

Other than the rodents, no known enemies. The van's parked in a driveway in a quiet, (except for neighbor's occasional orgy) neighborhood. However, I WILL try to sleep with one eye open for a while.

Ron.[/QUOTE]

:eek: Ron, I am in the desert, Palm Springs area, I had an episode with the MAF wires, a f*****g rabbit chewed the wires!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was able to solder the wires together....then the rabbits went for the wires for the fuel injectors. I taped/repaired all the chew places.....then I purchased 3 varmit repelers... one goes under the hood each and every day. Why do critters like copper????????? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Mr. DRomano,
You do know you are responding to a thread that is almost 3 years old :eek:

:D Yes, but thanks for the belated reply. Said van was sold last summer, to an adventuresome pal for $100.00, as it flunked its emission test, & I needed the money to recover the $100.00 I paid for the 240SX.
Now the critter found my gas grill, & ate the spark ingition wires, & a tip off the burner feed tube. Guess I'll fill the squirrel feeder with some romex cable.

Ron.

Ron,
Wrap the hose on the propane tank with aluminum foil. The critters can't stand chewing on that stuff.
I had a squirrel chew about 4 inches of a plug wire. You can't wrap plug wires with foil!!!
Clydesvx