Power to ignition, none out though...

[Fries]

Aiiiiiight so I've been attempting to diagnose my no crank issue [ I just want to get the starter going so I can do a compression test on the sr20 ] but I havent been able to get the starter to kick over.

So here's the background info:
Wiring relocation, brought the chassis harness from the engine bay into the interior. Extended plugs needed for lower engine harness and deleted ac plugs, blinkers [oops] and fogs. (READ: cut wires at plug, cut wires at fuse box and covered the tips.)

Battery relocation to the trunk. Car does have power, I can turn on the lights.

Starter has power (obviously), but doesnt crank on full key turn. Signal wire not getting power.

All the wiring from the ignition switch is intact. The car was auto and yes the plug is looped.

So this is where we're at... plug going to ignition switch is getting 12v [Volts AC] ((I think it said like 20v on Volts DC.... wtf?)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/James118/2011-05-03_20-23-41_826.jpg

plug coming off the ignition switch is displaying no volts on key on accessory or full turn.... So what the fuck would cause this?

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/James118/2011-05-03_20-24-57_801.jpg

[Hashiriya415]

It's never a good thing to do electrical work when you can't read a multi meter. I look at my friend using a multi-meter, he says it has 11 volts (while it's reading 11mV). I laugh in my head letting him poke around different wires, it's so much fun.
I'll tell you something you should know already. Is your battery charged and able to hold a load? Take the battery out of the car, get jumper cables and connect it directly to your starter.

[Fries]

It's never a good thing to do electrical work when you can't read a multi meter. I look at my friend using a multi-meter, he says it has 11 volts (while it's reading 11mV). I laugh in my head letting him poke around different wires, it's so much fun.
I'll tell you something you should know already. Is your battery charged and able to hold a load? Take the battery out of the car, get jumper cables and connect it directly to your starter.

Just to verify, on the multimeter I have it on Vac right? Battery is good. Its the one from my subie...

Initially I thought it was the starter so I'm borrowing my friends' that I know works. Still no start, no click.

Regardless of whether I can read a multi or not shouldnt I get some sort of reading out of the plug coming out of the ignition when the key is turned?

[Hashiriya415]

ac is scary. very scary. your car only has dc, alternator can output ac if the diodes are bad within it. But you don't even have the car running, so I wonder where could the ac be coming from, did you wire up the car to your home. jk with you.
Just do what I said, jump the starter directly.
How are you connecting your wires, solder at all or just splice together and tape up?

[Fries]

Everything that was extended was soldered. But lately its been twist and tape due to my solder gun's tips being effed. I did just buy a new tip and more solder though. I suppose I'll go jump it right quick and report back in 10 haha.

Am I doing this to verify that the starter is good?

[Fries]

Let me make sure I'm doing this right. I attached pos and neg to my battery, put the neg on the chassis and tried the positive on both screws on the starter thats chillin on a seat right next to the car. Not positive if that one is good or not, but I just wanted to double check if I was doing it right or not.

[Pandapants]

On the left hand side of the ignition switch, place the positive node of your multi meter on the white/red wire (right where it's soldered to the switch) and ground the negative multimeter node on bare metal somewhere on the steering column. It should have something like 12.5v with the car "off", "acc.", "on" and I think even the "start" positions. It should have constant power though (on or off). The black/white wire should be 12.5v in the "on" position, but nothing in the "off" position.

[Hashiriya415]

if it cranks you will know that your wiring is messed up somewhere. Either the small wire coming from switch or the main battery cable.
If it doesn't crank you will know it's your starter unless the jumper cables are bad.
If the bat is bad you won't get anywhere with any electrical diagnostic.
You could also jump the small wire on starter to the big wire, if it cranks you will know its start wire coming from ignition switch.
Do you know what colder solder is? I'm not talking about the cold solder iron. I'm talking about the most common mistake people make when soldering.

[Fries]

Colder solder is when its like brittle as fuck yeah? I jumped the starter so it's good. Has to be my wiring. I'm going to assume its not from the battery since the headlights/taillights work.

I did what Pandapants said also, I didnt get a reading when the multi was set to VDC.

[Hashiriya415]

Many people put wires together then touch the solder and melt it over the wire, resulting cold solder. Right way to do it is to heat up the wire to let the wire melt the solder. In the end cold solder will give you trouble, so that is why I ask, to see if you know how to properly solder wiring. If you didn't do it right go back and re-do every wire. Twist caps absolutely do not belong anywhere besides homes, vibration from car will loosen up twist caps and not only that, but moister will get in and corrode the wires. And tape will never hold, it always opens up. Buy yourself shrink tubing and do every single wire with it. Like I said from the start, just hearing a person speak how they don't know how to read a multi-meter properly tells me they know hardly anything about electrical. There will be so many mistakes made.

[spent27]

A/T's have a built in inhibitor switch... if you unplugged all the connectors from the tranny, it is impossible for the starting circuit to be 'completed'. Park or neutral complete the circuit. If your starter isn't even trying to turn, I would start there.

[Fries]

Many people put wires together then touch the solder and melt it over the wire, resulting cold solder. Right way to do it is to heat up the wire to let the wire melt the solder. In the end cold solder will give you trouble, so that is why I ask, to see if you know how to properly solder wiring. If you didn't do it right go back and re-do every wire. Twist caps absolutely do not belong anywhere besides homes, vibration from car will loosen up twist caps and not only that, but moister will get in and corrode the wires. And tape will never hold, it always opens up. Buy yourself shrink tubing and do every single wire with it. Like I said from the start, just hearing a person speak how they don't know how to read a multi-meter properly tells me they know hardly anything about electrical. There will be so many mistakes made.


By capped I meant that the tips of any wires that were cut had heat shrink applied and crimped. No housing caps man.
I will be going back and soldering and heatshrinking the wires.

The car cranks, it was the ignition fuse. It blew when I tried to crank and had a wire disconnected. I briefly checked it when I reconnected the wire but didnt see that it was blown.

I want to thank you guys for the help and teaching me how to use a multi :)