Jimmy P

iTrader: (177)

Recently had a new motor and turbo 400 put in. Drove fine for the first 200 miles. Then today when I got in the car, I noticed the trip odometer was reset. I couldn't remember doing it, so I thought it was a bit odd. Then at one point I was at low rpm's with the steering wheel turned all the way, and the car dies.(because of the large cam) I go to start it, and it isn't cranking. Nothing at all. Lights are dead as well. I check the battery, and the positive connection to the battery was loose and wasn't making a good conection. So I retight it, and go to start the car. Now I have power, but the car cant crank. It makes a clicking sound, but cant crank. So now I think that battery has enough power to turn the lights and radio on, but not enough power to make the starter work. So I have it jumped, but it doesn't do anything. I guess the battery was fully charged, but all it did when you went to start it was it would click. I tryed a couple more times, and all it would do is click. Then my buddy went in the car, and tryed shifting my th400 a couple of times, while trying to start the car, and after a couple of minutes the car started up. Drove perfect, then parked it when I arrived to my destination. When I got back in teh car later, it did the same thing, wouldn't start. It would just click, but not crank. I tryed a couple of times, and gave up. Then my buddy mest with the trans a couple of times, and it started just fine. Any ideas of what it can be? I am thinking that either the starter is going, or its wires aren't making a good conection. Something that I just realized is that it may be the neutral safety switch wire. Anyone have any other input? Thanks

venom346

iTrader: (7)

check your cables for battery corrosion. use a battery terminal cleaner. I dont think you have a good connection. has happend to me a few times.

Jimmy P

iTrader: (177)

Thanks for the reply. Well today the problem with the car not starting went away, but I think you may be right about not having a good connection. The pcm and trip odometer reset themselves everytime the car turns off for more than 30 minutes. I know that the pcm resets itself because I am throwing a SES, and it clears itself whenever the car turns of. And the pcm has to relearn the idle every time the car is off longer than 30 minutes. I think I will go to Pepboys or something and buy those things that connect the battery to the top with those two poles, not the little stock terminals.

WILWAXU

iTrader: (6)

Along with the other response, a dying battery can cause those type of issues too.

Jimmy P

iTrader: (177)

I bought a new Optima red top battery, and installed it. The problem seemed to go away for a couple of days, but then came back, but was a bit different now. I checked the wires that connect to the battery, and the positive one was so rusted and I was sure that was the problem. So I went to Sears and bought new cables to use, and then realized that the cables that I bought weren't long enough, and didn't have enough wires coming out of them. The one on now has 3 wires coming out of it, but the one I got from sears has 2. So I just improvised and put a sanding attachment on my Dremel,and sanded it down until it was smooth and rust free. Then I went and bought a little bolt to replace the rusted factory one. I tryed it, car started fine. I let it idle for 10 minutes. As soon as I release the parking brake and the headlights go on, the car dies. It didn't have any power at all. No lights went on, and it wouldn't crank at all. I loosed the cable, and if I would touch it to the positive terminal, it wouldn't give any spark at all. I then loosened the negative to see if somethings wrong with that. I connected it back, connected the positive, and then the car had power..I dont get it. Then every time I would shut the car off, my trip odometer would reset on its own. It stopped doing that for the last 2 days and I have put around 75 miles on it without it resetting. Do you guys have any advice on I can check for? I still have the original negative terminal and bolt, but that wasn't rusted or corroded at all like the positive one was. Thanks for any replys!

ps. sorry that its a lot of reading, but I'm trying to include all the info possible so someone can have an idea of what the problem can be.

Ell Ess Won

I had an electrical leak, or so I though on my car....car would start, etc. I replaced the dead battery with a Red Top and problem persisted. Turns out my sound system was a power drainer and I bought a Capacitor (2 ohm) and it fixed the drain on the battery. Mine used to reset the trip to so you're not getting the juice you need from somewhere.

Jimmy P

iTrader: (177)

Thanks for your reply. The thing is that I dont have a sound system, so I have to rule that out though. I even have the factory cd player.