Truck won't start

[haruman]

It's a 1980 Plymouth auto with the 2.0

Turn the switch, get the buzz, but no clicks no nothing. Battery is fine.

Messed with some wires, now when I turn the key I don't get any buzz at all. Battery is still fine.

Could it be the ignition switch?

[pennyman1]

does it do the same in park and neutral?

[geezer101]

Hmm. Can be a number of things. Voltage on the battery might be fine but down on CCA's. Starter motor might need new brushes - worth taking it out, disassembling and inspecting. Ignition switch might be crap - make a bypass wire long with a female spade terminal on it, connect the terminal to the starter solenoid terminal on the starter motor, turn the ignition to 'ON' and hit the bare end of the starter motor bypass wire to the positive + on the battery (MAKE SURE THE BYPASS WIRE CAN NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH THE FAN OR BELTS). If it kicks over, there's a fault in the ignition start wiring. You 'can' disassemble an ignition switch but they are tricky due to small springs and ball bearings inside of them. If it is toast, any repair will only be a band aid fix and it will fail relatively quickly. The battery leads/terminals or ground connections could be faulty as well.

[xboxrox]

haruman, check my photo albums for pic of Mitsubishi Ignition Switch with Part # and source...

The new ignition switch cured a s l o w crank problem (dead battery symptom) on my truck for about 3 or more months now... However, last week the truck acted up again twice with the s l o w crank problem (dead battery symptom) not as bad but bad enough... This truck has had at least two starter motors installed and a 3rd is a real possibility...

Someone here (pennyman?) says a starter motor from a (Starion?) fits and is more better...

[haruman]

Well my battery was bad after all, not too surprising, Arizona is hell on batteries...

Still won't start. Tried the jumper from the starter to + on the battery, no turn over. So I guess I gotta pull the starter. Just weird that both would fail at the same time.

[xboxrox]

haruman, (w/o looking, I don't know) can these Mitsubishi engines be cranked by attaching a socket to the crankshaft pully/damper bolt..? I'm asking, do you know for sure that your engine is not hung-up, frozen or too hard to rotate..? I made sure to buy a battery for warm weather use and hope you did too if your weather is mostly hotter... A bigger (than stock) battery might require a bigger alternator to keep it charged... I got a battery one step up [more amps] than OEM and it "just" fit inside the battery holder... W/O reading the FSM, I think there are two relays in the starting circuit wiring..? I never followed through on checking any relay stuff... At this point "IF" the s l o w starting event becomes a regular problem again; I think I would start shopping for the best starter available... I'm lucky to know a local mechanic willing to wrench on my truck for affordable prices... It could be something simple like a worn wire, worn connector, corrosion, loose this or that BUT I am too lazy to even check...

Hope you have a garage, hydraulic jack & jack stands, a few tools + a supportive truck enthusiast wife :thumbup: or helper of some kind :) Let somebody know you will be working under the truck, just in case you can't call for help if something bad happens...

[haruman]

Yeah you can turn the engine with a socket on the crank pulley and a breaker bar, I had to do that to turn it when I installing a new flex plate. I'll check that next.

And no, my wife hates the truck, haha. But she know's when I'm working on it to check on me from time to time...

[geezer101]

...And no, my wife hates the truck, haha. But she know's when I'm working on it to check on me from time to time...

She'll hate it until you she asks you to 'get that piece of furniture for her/take a load to the dump/pick up those bags of soil from the garden centre' etc :lmao:

[85Ram50]

Just so you know I was able to easily turn my motor over with a little 3/8 ratchet when I did the leak down test a few months ago. Of course the plugs were out.

[haruman]

I did the whack on the starter with a hammer trick and she started right up... :grinno:

[geezer101]

Yeah, sounds like you need to pull the starter motor out and disassemble + clean it out. If there's still some life left in the brushes it will buy you some time before you need to replace them and it will give you a chance to find the right ones on ebay and get them sent to you. A cautionary note - starter motors can be stubborn once you've freshened them up and assembled them. It may take a couple of test fires on the bench before it wants to kick over every shot (I'd recommend bench testing it prior to installation as it can be really frustrating not getting any signs of life from the starter once it's bolted up)

[xboxrox]

Whacking a Wife don't work no more; try getting her a new set of brushes too [tooth & hair type] ;) then the bench test [sorry, I'm bad] :P

Just joking of course BUT some [all..?] of the little old Asian compact truck owners on the road here in Hawaii fit typical stereotypes if judging them by looks... Young 'n vaping 'n loud boom box stereos blasting or an old 'n poor looking man driving these suckers... Or a fixed up old Asian compact truck all jacked up big tires, proud I'm cool drivers looking 'n acting like criminals..!

Don't Forget tomorrow is the 78th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor... :rapidfire:
We are lucky they didn't have a way to track our three aircraft carriers in the Pacific; it could have easily been Game Over for USA...

[camoit]

That's a bad solenoid