my3girlz

This post may be a little misleading....as "not starting" means alot of diff things. In my case the starter will not engage, dash lights go out when trying to start, radio reads "cal err", a relay buzzes when the key is turned 1 click.

So a little history...... We bought this used and had roughly 135k miles... after 3-4 months the head gaskets went out. took it to a mechanic friend and after getting into it he noticed multiple things wrong "inside". Needless to say i bought a remanufactured engine and he replaced it.... after the install everything was fine, started, ran all was good, just had to break it in, so i thought.
On the way to work one day the service engine light came on....made it to work, and when i tried to start it again....nothing. removed battery took to get tested....was bad, replaced. and..nothing...no starter engaged dash lights go out when trying to start...... so whats next? the starter? removed the starter and took to get tested...it was good...strange? replaced the old starter and it started just fine. drove it home and on the way a radiator hose blew..... drove it up on ramps to fix that, and after that was fixed tried to start to test and again NOTHING.... so i replaced the starter anyways..... still nothing??? read a bit online and determined maybe its the neutral safety switch....replaced it....still nothing...

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP.. anyone else ever had this problem?

it does have the passkey III, althought i dont think this has anything to do with it?
this morning i checked the continuity before and after the fusible links on the wires going to the pos of the starter, they are all good, and the earth is good also, and none are grounded out.

my3girlz

Update: tested battery voltage again... was at 39%, tried to charge but would not hold a charge.... took to auto store to replace.... And still nothing.

my3girlz

Update again... Bought the Haynes manual and checked all the obvious. Relay = good
ignition switch = good
The one thing that is BAD, is that when key is in "start position" i get no power to the solenoid wire (small one).

Now i checked the relay and it checked good. But i took off the relay cover to make sure it closed the circuit when trying to start and it did not. I pushed the relay together manually, and it did not start, but i didnt have enough people to check to see if i had power to the solenoid after manually closing.... im assuming not as it still didnt start, click or anything. Even jumped relay #30 and #87 to no avail.


again, so far i have replaced the battery (which was actually bad in the 1st place)
replaced the starter
replaced the neutral safety switch.

so whats left the ign switch and the relay??? I hate to piece and guess crap together, i want to narrow this down.

EinST

I don't know if your Haynes manual shows it but terminal 30 on the relay should get a battery voltage (always hot) through a fusible link. That should give you the direction you should look next.

my3girlz

Thanks for the reply... and it does..... Today i have tore out all the plastic covering for the wires from the starter on back to the fuses under the hood, due to me not having voltage at the "purple" wire at starter when trying to start, found i was checking the wrong relay.

NOTE: The starter relay on the 01 venture is mounted with a plastic push in to the left of the radiator... or atleast mine was... its not actually in the fuse box, which is what i was checking. But the relay was good..... and yep constant voltage to pin #30.
Found that there is a buzzing coming from an "unknown" black box under the dash.... has 2 molex plugs into it... inside it it has a covered relay and 2 other relays not covered, in the 1st key turn, both relays close.... in the run position the one on top stays closed and the bottom opens..... dont know what this is though, gunna look through the manual to see...

my3girlz

PROBLEM SOLVED: After tearing apart the whole wiring system and checking everything out, it turned out NOT to be electrical at all..... In fact the new starter that i purchased from Autozone was getting stuck on the flywheel. And kept getting stuck..... after taking it off and putting it back on a few times i just got 2 washers and shimed the top where the starter meets the block, no problems now.

So, my next question because i have never had to do this before..... anyone ever heard of this or had to do this on their vehicle, of any kind?

EinST

Thanks for the update. It sounds like you got one of those close-enough-for-export junk. The lack of quality control is the reason I no longer look for cheapest parts.

my3girlz

Yea .... so i went to the hardware store and bought 2 different kind of washers to shim it with.... the thinest one i could find and one i guess the next thickness up...... the thinnest i THOUGHT fixed it or so it seemed (works around 80% of the time) and the thickest one makes ALOT of noise when starting but does not stick.

Calling the auto store for starter shims i guess.

my3girlz

Update to the update... after installing the new shims, i tried to start it and it was doing what it had done the very 1st time... No click... not trying to turn over just nothing at all... so again, undone starter and looked at wiring... checked voltage at relay next to radiator.... and all was good..... after getting back under the van the 4th time i seen a black wire hanging all by its lonesome..... IT WAS THE GROUND FROM THE BATTERY. It had not been hooked up the whole time. so after fastening it to the block. the van starts everytime no problems.

QUESTION: Will a bad ground cause the starter to stick?

grahamhill

At least yours was an easy fix!

Im here searching for starting related problems on my Father's 01.

#11 mini relay buzzing like crazy!