I have a question on ignition switch operation. The door ajar light is bright and strong with the ign on accessory, but when the key is turned to start, the light dims badly. Headlights don't work, but battery is fully charged and jumping the car doesn't work. Radio doesn't work right either. sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. heavy static on what should be a clear station. The blower motor for ac makes weird noises. Car acts like it has a low battery, but it doesn't. Car won't start. Sometimes I can hear the starter click, sometimes not, but not enough juice to crank. The only thing I can think that all of these circuits have in common is the battery ground wire, and the ignition switch. I know that the starter gets voltage from both the battery and the ignition switch. Does this sound right? Thanks.

Are you sure you are not hearing a click?

 

When my starter solenoid contacts were giving me issues, I thought I didn't hear a click at first, but there was one. Open your window and listen carefully. If you hear a click, more then likely it's the solenoid contacts.

I do hear a click, but since the headlights and radio don't work, I'm wondering if its not something else. Usually if the starter is bad, everything else works correctly, it just won't start. Maybe there are 2 seperate problems. But the whole car acts like it is not getting enough voltage, including the starter. Is there any way to test an ignition switch?

What you describe here, and in your other thread, sure sounds to me like there is something wrong with your ignition switch. This seems to be a relatively common problem.

Usually the accessories are turned off when the key is in the starting position but I am not sure about your model. The problem may be with the ignition switch or in the wiring to it from the battery. Check the fusible links for a bad connection also. The power to the accessories is supplied by the smaller wire going to the positive battery connection.

 

I would check the solenoid wire from the ignition switch in the start mode to see if you are getting 12 volts to it. It sounds like you may not be. If so, check the wiring as mentioned above needs to be done.

What you describe here, and in your other thread...

I could have sworn that you had posted in the past couple of days about ignition switch problems... I seem to recall something about a puff of smoke. I can't find anything like what I remembered, so...

 

..am I just confused? Too many problems, too few brain cells.

NorthWet,

 

You may have been thinking of the post that DJCRACKER made on 07-13-2005, 06:04 AM. He talked about a puff of smoke coming from his ignition switch. I understand about the memory problems. Sometimes I wonder about mine.

NorthWet,

 

You may have been thinking of the post that DJCRACKER made on 07-13-2005, 06:04 AM. He talked about a puff of smoke coming from his ignition switch. I understand about the memory problems. Sometimes I wonder about mine.

Cougar, sounds about right. Many thanks for straighening out my pretzeled memory!

Usually the accessories are turned off when the key is in the starting position but I am not sure about your model. The problem may be with the ignition switch or in the wiring to it from the battery. Check the fusible links for a bad connection also. The power to the accessories is supplied by the smaller wire going to the positive battery connection.

 

I would check the solenoid wire from the ignition switch in the start mode to see if you are getting 12 volts to it. It sounds like you may not be. If so, check the wiring as mentioned above needs to be done.

 

Glen's correct. The headlights, radio, acc, etc turn off when the ignition is in the start position.

 

I'm telling you...it's the contacts.

... Headlights don't work, but battery is fully charged and jumping the car doesn't work. Radio doesn't work right either. sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. heavy static on what should be a clear station. The blower motor for ac makes weird noises. Car acts like it has a low battery, but it doesn't...

Just to clarify things...

 

Do the described problems with headlights, radio and blower occur when the ignition switch is in the "On" position, or just when you have the switch in the momentary "Start" position?

"The door ajar light is bright and strong with the ign on accessory, but when the key is turned to start, the light dims badly."

 

Josh,

 

It is the statement above that makes me think there is a problem in the wiring to the ignition switch. You may be right though, you usually are.

"The door ajar light is bright and strong with the ign on accessory, but when the key is turned to start, the light dims badly."

 

Josh,

 

It is the statement above that makes me think there is a problem in the wiring to the ignition switch. You may be right though, you usually are.

 

He needs to clarify which lights he's talking about, and whether they dim, or if they turn off completely.

 

As I said, the lights and other accessories turn off when the key is in the start position.

The headlights do not come on at all in "on" or "start". I can hear the headlight relay, or whatever it is, buzing. I am only getting 9 volts into the ignition and 9 volts out of the ignition. When I turn it to start, the voltage...in and out...reads about 6.5V. Not enough to crank anything. I am starting to think there is a voltage drop somewhere. Someone mentioned battery feed cable or fuseable link. Can a fusable link be partially bad, but not totally shot? Door ajar light and chime are strong, with the key at "on"...but I guess 9v is adequate to do that. Have to figure out where I'm losing power. 3.5V missing somewhere. Battery is new and fully charged. Connections appear good. Resistance on negative battery wire is 3 ohms..okay I think. all negative cable connections tight, clean. do see mouse droppings!! They can mess things up pretty good!

The reading of 3 ohms on the ground cable is not good, especially if you are talking about the main cable. This may be your real problem. Try cleaning all the connection points and see if that corrects things. You should have zero ohms of resistance. Check the calibration of your meter by shorting the probes together just in case there is a metering error.

 

There may be a problem with the fusible link connections also that could cause a voltage drop so check that also.

Pull the fuses and fusable links out and check for continuity across them. If they're not perfectly zero, they're probably bad.

 

You may have a short somewhere too.

If you are reading 6.5V on the ignition switch during 'start' (and the starter doesn't turn over), try tracing this voltage back to the battery.

 

In particular, what voltage do you read during 'start':

 

- on the battery clamp? (if only 6.5V, then you may have dirty battery terminals).

- on the centre of the battery post? (if only 6.5V, then you have a deceased battery).

 

And you could also check the voltage between the centre of the negative battery post to ground on the engine block (this should be near 0V even when cranking).

Cougar, I think the cable itself shoud have some resistance...but very low. 3ohms is probably too high.

Forester, I am reading the voltage at the ignition switch itself...both the battery feed wires going in, and the wires comming out and heading towards the fuse box. All are way too low!

Will definately check all fusable links. Since there was a intermitant short on the hot wire that fed the radio fuse,...which I fixed, it is possible that something got fried.

Yes, a normal cable will have some resistance but I doubt you have a meter with enough resolution to measure it. The main ground cable should have a resistance of about 0.001 ohms or less.

 

Using Ohms Law E=IxR the resistance of even 1 ohm would mean there is a 1 volt drop for each amp of current. With 3 ohms and just 1 amp it would be 3 volts of drop. You can imagine trying to run a starter motor with this is not going to work well.

Cougar, that sounds right. Time to check out contacts...and maybe a new ground cable. Not real expensive.

Cougar, that sounds right. Will start with checking the negative ground cable.

I agree with Cougar; good, knowledgable advice. 3 ohms is way too much on ANY connection wire (disregarding deliberate resistive wires), let alone a power cable. Resistance should be negligable, and fall close to the meters accuracy rating. It should effectively be "0". (Do check that the the meter reads "0" when probes are touched to each other.)

 

Good job hunting down the switch voltages and cable ohmage. Hard numbers, clearly stated are a really big help.

 

Do not neglect/overlook the connections at the starter, both power and ground. They can look perfectly fine but have poor electrical connectivity. I found this out the hard way.

Not only is it right it is "The Law", Ohms's Law that is.

Samething happened to me the other day after working on my Subaru. It turned out my battery cables' terminals needed to be cleaned and reconnected to the battery posts. My positive cable seemed to be the main cause of the issue. Use a battery post cleaning tool and get a good metal to metal contact. I hope it works out.

 

-Mark

and cables should (but rarely is) be part of your maintence procedures. Before a trip last month I pulled my battery, cleaned the outside, repainted the hold down and greased the threads. It is also good to check the water, clean under the tray and touch up chips, then clean all cabes and reinstall. When you clean a battery cable it is good to pull the other end (starter or ground) and get it good and shiny before reinstalling. Because of this I don't have problems in these areas.

I only do this once a year and I think it pays me for the time.

well crap. may ohm meter is way out of spec. How does one get something like that fixed? I touch the 2 prongs together and get anything from .8 ohms to 1.4 ohms. Sometimes it bounces up to 3 ohms. Good grief!