# Ignition on, starter relay click, then no start?



## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

I'm 98% certain the first thing you thought of was DEAD BATTERY.... but your wrong that's not it, so don't say it!  

Let me tell you my story, its cold as f*#@^#%@ outside, its been -4 - 20 deg F for the past few days. The first day going to work my car hated it, took like 5 mins worth of cranking (not constantly, don't be silly) to start, then 2 mins worth to get back home from work.... Normally its two cranks and its goes. 
Next day, same process and finally... Turn key, "CLICK". Turn key, "CLICK". Turn key, "CLICK". 
...then I said "F-YOU!!!" and drove my Evo to work.  

So I charged my battery over night just to make sure and same thing  

So before I dig deep into this, because its still cold as FWAK outside, looking for any opinions. 

1) grounding cables, nah not it 
2) Any fuses? where are these? 
3) Relay? is it the load reduction #4 slot? I do hear it clicking, once. 
4) Blown starter? damnit I just replaced this 18 months ago. 
5) ignition switch, replaced like 3 yrs ago, everything else still turns on and such so I doubt this is it. 

What else should I keep in mind? 
I'm not an idiot, I just want to make sure I don't overlook something, if I go out in the subfreezing temps I want to check everything as quickly as possible before my nutz freeze. 

Thanks 
Joe


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

uhht-ohhhh


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## Anony00GT (Mar 6, 2002)

GTijoejoe said:


> I'm 98% certain the first thing you thought of was DEAD BATTERY.... but your wrong that's not it, so don't say it!


 I'm gonna say it  

I haven't seen anything conclusive in that post to rule out a bad battery. 

When it's that cold, a weak battery becomes a dead battery pretty fast, putting a charger on it won't help. Get a proper load tester on it and find out.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Ignition switch 100% short the battery to the starter signal line. If it kicks, its the switch. There isn't a starter ignition fuse in the mk3.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

Anony00GT said:


> I'm gonna say it
> 
> I haven't seen anything conclusive in that post to rule out a bad battery.
> 
> When it's that cold, a weak battery becomes a dead battery pretty fast, putting a charger on it won't help. Get a proper load tester on it and find out.


 NOOO you did it!!!! 
I promise you its not the battery, even after cranking it before charging it had 11.88 volts, during cranking it was 10.5v. Then I charged the battery no difference. MK3 system needs more then 8.0v to crank before it clicks out. 



Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> Ignition switch 100% short the battery to the starter signal line. If it kicks, its the switch. There isn't a starter ignition fuse in the mk3.


 I didn't think so, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a fuse. 
If it was the switch, would I still hear the rely clicking when ign on? I'd think it'll do nothing as it doesn't transfer over. 

I'm gunna short the starter out first thing. 

My luck its still 20F during the day and it snowed 3-4" today, so I may have to wait a few :thumbdown:


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Yes. Dash lights still dim. Still hear a "click" from under the dash.


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## Anony00GT (Mar 6, 2002)

GTijoejoe said:


> NOOO you did it!!!!
> I promise you its not the battery, even after cranking it before charging it had 11.88 volts, during cranking it was 10.5v. Then I charged the battery no difference. MK3 system needs more then 8.0v to crank before it clicks out


 I suggest you verify that by connecting it to your EVO with jumper cables (EVO idling), and try to start it. 

Could be a weak starter, or increased resistance across the fat wire to the starter too. 

If the ignition switch is bad, you'll have no power at the signal wire to the starter while cranking. Have a helper hold the key in the crank position, check for battery voltage on the signal wire. If you have it, the ignition switch is good.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

Thanks for the input guys.... I got some work to do.eace:


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

I'm updating this.....

Today I found the issue.
Since the crank circuit has no fuse running from the ignition switch, the problem was a fried wire from the switch, not the battery, not the starter, not the relay. The wire from the switch was completely toast.... that's what you get when you crank the **** out of your car, it eventually will over heat the wire. :thumbup:


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## EEnewb (Apr 15, 2021)

GTijoejoe said:


> I'm updating this.....
> 
> Today I found the issue.
> Since the crank circuit has no fuse running from the ignition switch, the problem was a fried wire from the switch, not the battery, not the starter, not the relay. The wire from the switch was completely toast.... that's what you get when you crank the **** out of your car, it eventually will over heat the wire. 👍


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## EEnewb (Apr 15, 2021)

Does this signal wire need to be plugged in to see voltage and does it need to be cranked to see voltage? Also, can you hear the motor crank if it’s bad still? I think mines toast.


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## Butcher (Jan 31, 2001)

Do you know this started over 7 years ago? I hope it's fixed by now.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

Butcher said:


> Do you know this started over 7 years ago? I hope it's fixed by now.


Hahaha ohhh its fixed... I parted the car out and junked the body, but the starter being friend was just the straw that broke the camel's back.



EEnewb said:


> Does this signal wire need to be plugged in to see voltage and does it need to be cranked to see voltage? Also, can you hear the motor crank if it’s bad still? I think mines toast.


If the circuit is fried, the starter will not crank. This happened to me mid cranking, just nothing anymore. If the motor is doing its thing the circuit should still be operating. Of course check the relay first, but finding the fried wire in my experience was done when I cut the car apart and noticed the column harness. It would not have been an easy thing to identify. 
When a starter unit goes bad, I have never experienced a condition where it didn't spin. 

I hope that helps


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