FTO won't crank - NOT starter motor

[FTEvolution]

Hi fella's,

Since I've had my car I have had an issue whereby I needed to put it into Neutral to start (it's a tip), over the last few years I have had issues where turning the key would give nothing but a tick in the starter. I would turn the key continually, get a tick tick tick each time until it would finally crank.

This has now recently stopped, it has also happened before back in 07. It was the starter then, which was reconditioned (just brushes I believe).

I removed the starter yesterday, had it reconditioned today (bushes, solenoid, brushes) and reinstalled it.. NOTHING still.

Here comes the questions..

What else could it be?

I am suspecting one of the following:
1, transmission position switch on the top of the gearbox. Has anyone got a pic of how it *should* look? Any way to test these?
2, alarm immobiliser. I can't even remember what model it is, it's so old. I *think* it's a mongoose. How do I remove an alarm and immobiliser and leave the car in working order?

Is there anything else I could check?

To clarify further.. it doesn't crank.. at all..

Really need your help badly guys, changed city and I've got until Monday to get this sorted for my new job..

Cheers in advance

[Sahin]

Sounds like a bad battery connection or bad battery tbh
Check terminals

[PHIL069]

Bad/dirty/rusty earth connections.
Check,clean and tighten the earth connections on battery terminal, on chassis and on engine/transmission.

[Supplanter]

Bad battery. Your car has been sitting undriven for a while, hasn't it?

[Technikhaus]

I'd say possibly battery too, where have you moved to? Used to be Christchurch?
If you're not too far away now, I could bring up some spare to test if it's the alternator again etc.

[Chebus]

cluster, duh.

[FTEvolution]

Well, yeah, the battery is flat as, but when jump starting the bugger it gets around 13 - 14 volts on the guage and everything else works including fans and the alarm chirps (though I also noticed that I can't get the alarm to actually go off ).. Do you think it's just fucked and down on cold cranking amps?

I've moved back to CHCH from Wellington, and the car has been very badly looked after and left outside

I'm trying to get it road legal again

[FTEvolution]

Also noticed that when turning the key that the dash lights don't dim, but I'm adding that's because it's not cranking their just not drawing any load

[Sahin]

Well, yeah, the battery is flat as, but when jump starting the bugger it gets around 13 - 14 volts on the guage and everything else works including fans and the alarm chirps (though I also noticed that I can't get the alarm to actually go off ).. Do you think it's just fucked and down on cold cranking amps?

I've moved back to CHCH from Wellington, and the car has been very badly looked after and left outside

I'm trying to get it road legal again

bad earth then!

[FTEvolution]

To clarify, I always assumed that a bad earth would cause nothing to work

Any idea which would be most likely to be failing? Considering that power is getting from the boot where the battery is to the engine bay, I'm assuming that the boot earth is OK. Hazard a guess that it's the gearbox earth since it's a gearbox mounted component having issues..

God I hope it's that simple! Where does the gearbox earth connect?

[Sahin]

A bad earth will make everything work except the things that draw a lot of power... I'm almost certain it'll be the issue...
Where is it grounded in the boot
And the gearbox ground is on one of the engine to gearbox mounting bolts

[FTEvolution]

Battery is grounded to a huge f**k off bolt in the floor through to the chassis if I remember correctly

It's got a VR4 6A13 engine, where do they ground to by default? Same place as a 6A12?

[FTEvolution]

Regardless of anything else, jump starting should give enough cold cranking amps to start it though right? of course the donor vehicle is running when I jump it

Damn.. Really wish I had a multi meter right now

[Technikhaus]

Yup, if everything is fine, then a jump start should turn it over.
Still have the built in volt gauge on the FTO?

[FTEvolution]

Yep, volt guage shows 13 - 14 volts when jump starting

[Bennoz]

+1 on bad earth. Check the engine earth, usually bolted to the gearbox housing down the front.

[Technikhaus]

Any progress?

[payaya]

So what did you do with the original ground that goes from the neg terminal to chassis and to the engine??

How did you run your positive terminal? Does it run direct to the fuse able links?.

Are you terminating the cables right?

[FTEvolution]

Payaya, I didn't do the work, I'm not sure what was done. It looks like the guy that did it just arbitrarily attached the huge positive cable from the boot to the old positive terminal in the engine bay with everything attached to it, then covered it with insulating tape. The earth setup is very different to stock, components are earthed.. Everywhere..

Progress is slow because the car is stuck a long way from where I'm living.

There doesn't appear to be any damage to any of the earth cables, everything appears intact, but with all the old and (now) seemingly brittle piping crowding the gearbox side of the engine bay, I'm really struggling to disassemble everything to get to the earths to remove and clean them up..

I'll keep chopping away at it, but I'm getting sick of it and may pay a professional because I almost fucked a few vacuum lines yesterday. Cramped to fuckery..

[Technikhaus]

Sounds like a bit of a mess... but with it all like that, it wouldn't surprise me if it's a wiring issue...