I've got my '79 ZX that im going to swap my engine into and im trying to get it to start. When I turn the key all the lights and stuff come on but it wont start. I dont hear the fuel pump come on and the starter motor wont turn over. This has to be something electrical. I know its not the battery because I just used it to start my 2+2. What do you guys think? I want to get this thing running before the engine swap so that I dont have to mess with this stuff when Im done. Thanks for your help.

-Andrew

P.S.- I hate electrical crap!!!

 

Grounds can be a huge problem in swapping. make sure it's all grounded.

 

I haven't swapped anything yet. I just want to get the car running before I pull its engine out.

 

its most likey a bad ignition switch.. you can still get the car to run.. put the ignition to the on posistion and make sure its in neutral.. then go to the starter.. and jump the lil yellow wire with the positve cable thats running from your bat. that should engage your starter and should crank over and start the car..

 

Ok, I tried that and it didn't do anything. Im going to replace the positive battery cable tomorrow because I think it may be bad. Also, I am going to use a battery charger to jump start the starter motor to turn over the engine. If it is my ignition switch, how difficult is it to replace that? I already have an extra one ith a set of keys so thats not a problem. Could it be anything else??? Thanks ice, you're a big help man.

 

Some times if the batt is draind to much, it will still turn on all the lights, but don't have the amps to turn her over. happend to a cavaler back in 02.

 

I know the batt is good.

 

i think i might have told you to jump the starter wrong... you need to jump the positive terminal to the male receptical on the solinoid that has the yellow wire going to it.. theyre right nect to gether... if you dont get the starter to turn then you might have a bad starter.. i use this method if the ignition switch is bad..

 

Yeah I did that. The starter turned a little but didnt turn over the engine. I know the starter is good becuase I just swapped the one from my 2+2 into the '79. Could it be anything else? This is really starting to **** me off.

 

Fart, Fuel?, Spark?,

 

Dude, the engine wont even turn over.... It has nothing to do with spark or fuel.

 

it is an electrical problem.. you might not be getting enough current to turn the motor.. check your bat cables and terminal connections.. also see if your bat has a full charge.. you said that it turns a little but not enough to turn the engine fully... im jsut guessin you might have a bad connection somewhere...

 

I think Ice is right.

Check your battery cables. This happened to Apollo's Z and even though I put the volt meter on it and it showed 12v it still wouldn't turn over.

Had a little corrosion on the + batter cable so he stripped off some of the insulation to cut the wire down and re-crimp on good wire and found out the wire was corroded a couple feet down into the insulation! Enough to prevent enough amps from reaching the starter to crank it over.

Replaced the + battery cable and it worked beautifully. This was after we swapped out a new starter... Put the old starter back in and it fired right up.

 

Thanks LWW and Ice. I tried swapping the + cable yesterday but its connected to some wires in the fusible links box. I'll see if I can figure this out and get it running today. One quick question though... I know on my '83 that I could start the car without having the clutch pedal pushed down. Is it the same for '79 cars or do you need to have the clutch pedal compressed to start the car?

 

Look under the clutch pedal and see if there is a switch. No switch, no need to press the clutch to start..

 

no you dont need to press on the clutch to start the car...

 

Didn't think so.

I changed the + battery cable and it didn't do anything. Now I think I killed the battery completely, it wont even recharge. So I have to buy a new battery and then try to get this figured out. What else could it be??! I've changed the ignition switch, starter, battery cables, and battery... Any ideas??

 

That's just messed up man. Do you have a battery charger? Preferably one with the 100amp 'booster' option?

It shouldn't matter if your battery is dead if you have one, it'll just provide all the amperage through the charger.

Do you get any kind of clicking when you turn the ignition?

 

Yeah I have a battery charger but the battery doesn't seem to be taking charge anymore. I would hook the charger up directly to the car but the car is parked on the street and I dont have a long enough extension cord. Im probably just going to get a new battery, I have a friend that can get me one for free so its okay.

Anyway, the car does make several clicking noises when the key is turned. One comes from inside the car under the dash, I always heard it when I started my 2+2 so I know thats normal. Another clicking noise comes from the afm or distributor. I think its the distributor, maybe something to do with the ignition module. Is that normal?? Im really stumped with this one and im starting to get really frustrated because I really hate electrical work.

 

Ignition module failure won't prevent the starter from cranking the engine over, just keep it from running under it's own power.

 

Any ideas then?

 

even though you replaced the starter.. maybe your starter solenoid could be crap.. if you cant direct the power, then it just doesnt do ****.. try switchin out another starter and see what happens.. if youve replaced cables, battery, ig switch and it still wont crank i can only think of either a hidden dead spot in a cable somewhere, a bad starter or solenoid..