Truck decided to give up right after i fixed it! (wont start issues)

so i knew the guy that had this 94 mighty max, he rebuilt the engine then couldn't get it to start (cranked but would not ever fire up). He sold it to a guy that thought he could fix it and also had no luck. I then bought it from that guy and have been messing around and i replaced fuel pump, tried to start and it wouldnt start but i WOULD crank at this time. set distributor correctly, tried to get it to start and the starter wont even click when i turn the key to start. However while holding the key in the start position, the fuel pump will turn on, I can hear it humming away. so me and my buddy stood back and stared at each other confused. walked in the house came back out with a beer tried it again and VIOLA it started after cranking 5 or 6 times! let it run for a minute, drove it around the block, it died once during the drive but fired right back up at the stop sign. got it back in the garage, turned it off. waited a while, came back out and again, no click from the starter but again, fuel pump turns on and hums away. so today i replaced the starter solenoid and checked all the wires and nothing is messed up that i can see but again, fuel pump runs but no click or nothing from the starter. however all of a sudden, there is this incredibly loud buzzer noise that is not the door buzzer, the door buzzer is unplugged. the buzzer in question is the one closest to the firewall from the inside of the truck. it will keep buzzing whether the key is inserted or not UNLESS i push the clutch in?? the clutch is the only thing that stops the buzzer??? also all of a sudden if the key is in the ON position the fuel pump will always be running until i pull the key out?? only thing i have tried to far is replacing the ecu with a known good one from my buddies montero. PLEASE any advise you have is appreciated before i start tearing apart my running mighty max to swap known good parts!

Forgot to mention, its a 6g72 v6

Sounds like you might have a short, and the issues have the ignition in common. Could be a relay for the fuel pump went bad and the key gives power to the relay that's stuck closed, or the harness the ignition runs on is at fault. There is a buzzer for key in ignition so you don't forget to take the key when you turn the engine off.

Interesting, my gray truck doesn't remind me to take the key out. buzzer must be broken. but anyway, i can try the fuel pump relay. i looked at the harness and i dont see any issues in the wiring but i did just glance quick. does look like at one point there was a alarm installed but has since been removed. the ignition cables have been put back together by some of those wire crimp things. i figured i would smell burning or see some charring since something just randomly quit working. i did check all the fuses and didnt see any blown. but you did bring up a valid point, if that buzzer if for the key maybe the ignition took a crap.

yeah definitely thinking something in the ignition, i left the key on ACC and just went out to look. its been about 3 hours since i stopped messing with it and the battery is dead already.

so was out tracing the wires and i found that with the key in or out of the ignition i can make the fuel pump relay click on and off by wiggling this connector next to the battery. whats this for? it seems to go down to the starter?
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I do not have that connector in my truck as mine started out carburated. So wiggling the wire clicks the fuel pump relay? I would disconnect it and see what else is effected to determine what it controls. But if you had a manual you could easily follow the schematics for the fuel pump relay.

Been a few years since I wired in my own relay but my relay has a switched ground from the ecu when it detects key on engine cranking, and commanded ground when ecu sees the engine running. Relay itself might be the next inspection area since you already swapped known good ecu.

Edit: my ignition buzzer is intermittent. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The door switch that turns on the dome light, if I wiggle that it would "flicker" between noise and no noise. Sometimes stay on of turn back off.

It seems to be that the one of the wires from the connector follows the starter wire to the solenoid and plugs into the control thing on the solenoid. Not sure where the other one goes. But tonight I'm going to go pull the fuel pump relay out of my running MM and try it

Sounds about right. Power to relay on start signal. I was wrong. Lol. People say the ignition switch gets worn out when people have too much keys in a key ring. Makes the tumbler loose or wears the electrical plug into the switch. Mine is going out causing a intermittent no crank. Started was replaced multiple times and always tested good.

also check the wiring to the starter solenoid - I helped a friend out with a Prelude that had an alarm system with a starter kill relay in the starter solenoid circuit. Couldn't get it to work right, so I wired up a new circuit to make it like the new cars with push button start. It worked well until he blew the motor due to a mismatched motor ECM tune.

i checked the ignition solenoid and it looks great, no melted wires or obvious issues. the keys dont seem to wiggle in the ignition at all. but another piece to the puzzle. the battery in it suddenly is being marked as "bad battery" by my charger. I have charged it about 4 times with the same charger and it charged fine every time but now its failed twice??

I wonder if i wired the solenoid in wrong? does it have a specific orientation as in like one post comes from the battery and one goes to the starter? i figured since they are both positive leads it wouldnt matter.

so i took some pictures, the red outline on one is the buzzer that makes noise when i plug it in. and I know there is a zip tie on the starter solenoid. the solenoid came from a running eagle talon so the little pin that the smaller wire plugs into was facing the wrong direction and the plug felt a little loose so i used the zip tie to keep it from falling off.
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Start by looking at all the grounds. Bat to engine. Engine to cab, bat to fender, trans to frame. Then all the grounds inside. Check and clean them. That battery in the pict shows a cabling issue.

If your talking about the three like copper crimps on the positive connector they go to three individual fuses I guess the factory one broke and the previous owner replaced them with those. I checked the connections and where he made the splices and everything looks electrically sound.

i know for a fact that a automatic trans has a safety/neutral switch on it does the manual transmission have such a switch?
could that be a factor?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jamesw

i know for a fact that a automatic trans has a safety/neutral switch on it does the manual transmission have such a switch?
could that be a factor?

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There is a bypass wire under the passenger seat that is a loop connector.

A Buzzing sound from a relay is a bad ground somewhere. Or feedback from the wrong place.