Hello,
I have a 90 RS. Sometimes it will not start. The battery is good and so is the starter. I turn the key and nothing happens. It won't even turn over. I have had it in the shop 3 times for this, but they found nothing wrong. I was hoping maybe someone else has had this happen. When I put the key in and turn the switch, all my lights, even the radio comes on, but it will not turn over, not even a click on the starter.

Thanks

sounds like a low battery. my car does that sometimes and i have to jump it. it is annoying since i have a new battery, but idk there is a drain somewhere

Its not the battery. I was told it could be the Neutral Safety Switch or the Ignition Switch. Maybe someone else has had this happen.

Thanks

could be all of those things check the running of your positive and negative wires. make sure they havent grounded themselves to anything. then u have eliminated a couple things it could be. now you need to start replacing things so you can elinate other things. replce th NSS. then the ignition switch. you should probablycheck the connections on the starter. my truck used to have a problem similar to that.

Did the '90 RS come equipped with the PASS-Key system? If so maybe your key can't be read much or at all anymore.

none of my cars have that system. I think that they did I dont really know much about the RS model. all of my cars are older then 87

I found this cool link for you:



Maybe that'll help.

I had the exact same problem with my sons '89...it's the pass key system. Remove your drivers side kick panel, you will find a relay in there. When the key is turned, the resistor in the key triggers the relay by completing the negative side of the relay coil to ground, this allows the solenoid to engage. On his car, there is a seam at the bottom of the kickpanel inners that allowed water to splash up from the front wheel, I sealed it up with silicone. The insides and the contacts of the relay were corroded and the relay was actually full of water. A replacement relay is hard to find and it runs about $13. Some stores won't even have a listing, mine came from Advanced Auto. You will have to ask for a "security relay". Pep Boys never heard of it, neither did NAPA.

We went a step further, we removed the light on the dash marked "security", I then tied to the relay coil through a magnetic switch (Radio Shack)glued under the console between the power window switches. My son lays a magnet on the console and the car will start when the key is turned. His buddies think that its cool, and it was good enough for the Insurance discount because it's always active. They used to call this the "Silent System" from some company years back, that's where I got the idea.

Once your kick panel is removed, you should hear the relay clicking when you turn the key, it's pretty loud. If you get in a jam, drop me an email and I'll walk you through it if I can.

Good Luck....I spent quite a bit of time figuring this one out

Thanks HotRod53. I'm in the middle of replacing my starter switch on the steering column....NOT FUN. I can't get the old one out to put the new one in. The part your talking about...is it on top of the steering column by the starter switch? When I turn the key, I hear it engage. I will pay more attention to it tomorrow when I'm upside down under the dash trying to replace that dang switch...lol It only cost 13$ as well.

Well I replaced the starter switch on the steering column. Thought it solved my problem. Today......the same thing. I'm at my witts end with this thing. I'm gonna try HotRods theory and see how that turns out. I will post and let you all know how it turns out.

If the starter selenoid is over heating that may do it, All you said was sometimes?
on the 2.8 the pipe is like 5 inches away from the starter.

drop the starter, bench test it then wrap the whole thing with that high heat wrap. worked for me after i went through changing everything you just did

The same thing happened to my car. I switched the starter and it still wouldnts start, so i had a mechanic look at it and he put a new ignition switch in it and now i have no problems

i have a 92 rs with the pass key thing and i had the same problem. i solved it by bringing my car down to the garage and for 60 bucks they bypassed the vats system in the ignition.

I am having the same problem i used a jumper wire in the starter enable relay and it is cranking the motor . Injectors are pumping but it still doesnt want to start.

but r u gettin spark

how should i test for spark

go get a tester or pull a plug wire put a screw driver in it hold it by exhaust mainfold have some one crank and see if there is spark hold it real close but not touching

ill try that and get back to u

I am getting spark

did you test every cylinder for spark

if u did and have spark pull a plug and look at it if it looks like **** put new ones in and try make sure to gap them

i only tested one cylinder. What do u mean gap them?

spark plugs need to have gap set to a specific meassurement at the electrode

you should go buy a repair manual for your car

idk if youve tried this already...but my sisters car had this problem and all i did was remove the starter and clean off all the mounting surfaces real nice so the starter can get a good ground to the block. i also cleaned off all the connections where the battery cables attached to the starter itself. that did the trick for me.

what does starter have to do with spark??

i live in Canada they only sell the Haynes manuals (whic are crap) so i subscribed to all datas online manual.

gotachevy-
the original post (error_505) said they were having intermittent starting problems and i wasnt sure if he had tried removing the starter and cleaning up the grounds so i suggested it

just check your neutral safety switch anyway. my 89 rs has the same problem, but thats bcuz the kid i bought the car fromput in an after market shifter in. if thats the problem and you dont feel like messin with it, b4 you go to start it put it in neutral and pull the shifter towards you and that should ground out the switch so that you can start it. think of it as you anti theft system. it saved me 50 bucks on my insureance. just dont tell any of your friends how to start it