No solenoid click but has 12.6v from relay?

[ddlaz]

Hey all. I recently acquired an s13 with an sr20 and the wiring is a mess. Beyond that, it started everytime, but cranking was always crazy slow.
I was thinking the reason why the cranking was slow was because the relocated battery had a positive lead from battery to a 200amp fuse before going into the engine bay and splitting off on a power distribution block. I removed the 200amp fuse and put the pos lead directly from the battery to the pdb.
Now that I've done that, the car no longer cranks.

I've checked the following:
- positive and negative side voltage drops relating to the starter
- 12.6v between ground and the starter solenoid when key turned on start.
- 12.6v at starter battery lead to starter body
- 12.3v at starter battery lead to starter body while trying to crank
- solenoid is only pulling .3A
- took starter out and brought it to oreilly, it tested out to be good.
- put a screw driver from the batt lead to the solenoid connector and the starter cranks.
and maybe a few more checks I can't think of right now.

What should I be looking at right now? why isn't the solenoid putting out enough current? partial interlock switch issue?

[flartius]

My guess is a bad coil in the solenoid.


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[ddlaz]

Might have been unclear but I think the screwdriver test cranking the engine means the solenoid is good. The starter was able to turn and engage with the trasmission when I jumped the battery lead to the starter signal pin/spade connector.

[flartius]

IIRC what a solenoid does is act like a big relay for the starter. The starter signal energizes a coil which jumps the power wire from the battery to the starter motor. When you use a screwdriver to start the car you bypass the solenoid.

Since you’re not hearing the solenoid coil engage I am assuming you have a bad solenoid coil this not allowing power from the battery to the starter motor. If you can hear the clicking but the starter motor isn’t turning you could have a dirty plunger and not allowing power to go to the starter motor or not enough amps/voltage coming from the battery.


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[ddlaz]

Correct but I'm not jumping from positive battery lead to starter positive lead, I'm jumping from the positive battery lead to the starter signal lead which energizes the solenoid could and connects the starter positive to the positive battery lead. My test didn't bypass the solenoid, just bypassed the ignition switch.

[flartius]

Okay got what you’re doing, how much voltage is the starter signal supposed to be? Could be a problem with the starter relay.


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[ddlaz]

12v. And it has 12v but there just isn't enough current for some reason.

[flartius]

If you can chase the wiring and see if it’s not damaged somewhere, you can also check on both sides of the relay and see if the relay is going bad.


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[ddlaz]

interlock relay checked out. I just don't understand how this thing won't start after starting fine for 3 years, albeit slow. All I seemingly did was remove a 200a fuse inline with the positive starter battery lead.

Checking starter signal wire alone, it'll give me 12.6v but when I put it on the starter and check voltage, I get 3 mV.

Tried checking the starter according to the FSM regarding checking continuities between the S and M terminals, and the S terminal and body. Both have less than 1 ohm resistance.

I am planning on redoing the wiring anyways, but I want to make sure it'll start again before I rip it all apart. I may just have to chance it.

[Kingtal0n]

Sounds like grounds issues.

Also sounds like you may have blown a fuse (ible link) in the fuse box that sends 12v from the ign switch to the solenoid. Is there such a fuse? I think so

It comes out of ign switch -> fuse box -> solenoid I believe. So you must have blew something in that circuit or fried it thin, or poor ground somehow.

[ddlaz]

I was thinking the saw thing. Planned on making a new chassis to engine ground today.
There is a fuse from the ign switch and it tested good.

[ddlaz]

Solved. Interlock relay was bad. Checked voltage drops from the battery to the starter signal lead until I narrowed it down to the culprit. In lieu of a Nissan relay I made jumpers with spade connectors and used another NO relay to test. Starter had way more juice to crank now. Can't believe a relay would supply battery voltage but not enough current under a load.

[Kodiak303]

Hello, I have a 95 s14. On the kick panel fuse box there are 4 relays (3 blue and 1 brown at the bottom) Does anyone have the diagram for what these relay are?
Link or tell me what each of them do.
Thanks in advance!