I have a 1992 RS 3.1L v6.
Sometimes when i turn the ignition, the starter wont engage, it just clicks and all my interior lights come on. After doing this a few times it will usually catch and the car will start right up. The battery voltage is fine (12 volts), the neutral safety switch is good and i just put a new starter in it, but none of these fixed the problem. However, when i hook jumper cables up, the car started right up every time.
What am i missing?
Loose connection somewhere? Something with the ignition?

Thanks for you help,
Dave

 

check for a bad grouond from the battery. make sure there is no rust or corrosion on the wire and where its connected. theres one on the alternater, and another on the inside of the fender next to the battery. and i think theres one more on the firewall behind the passenger side of the engine. but you have a v-6 and its a 92 so they might be in different locations. but just look for them i bet thats what your problem is. it does sound like a bad ground.


if you find a bad ground, grind it down to bare steel and put a new washer and tighten it up real nice.

 

just an update, i charged up the battery as much as i could and cleaned up the connections on the negative battery cable and it fixed it. There was definitely some build up on the cable where it connected to the engine block. Thanks for the advice.

dave

 

make sure you check for any fusible links or spots the wires are terminated together. they get pretty nasty. i had a similar situation with my old 89RS