92 240sx 5speed.

car was 5speed swap. They installed the clutch safety button or whatever that prevents it from starting without the clutch being depressed.

Long story short. Fuel pump primes, lights work, interior lights work etc. she's all ready to start. I turn they Key with clutch pedal depressed and I get a loud click and a fading of power.

Seems to be the starter relay?

Going to try to connected positive end of battery to starter and see if it turns over.

Also, Going to make sure the engine is grounded to the frame somewhere. Is the ground cable for battery supposed to be connected to the engine? Is it ok if I just ground out the intake manifold?



any other suggestions?

This car had this problem previous to the engine swap. I thought it was the starter, must be a bad relay. Is there an easy way to jump that relay?

I have read google and found wiring diagrams, but I am no wiring boss hoss.



thanks!



[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 9:23 AM. Reason : d]

6/7/2011 9:16:56 AM

when you say "fading of power" what exactly is fading? is the starter engaging and turning at all, but just without enough power to turn the motor? or does the starter not turn over at all? In the cases i have had a bad solenoid/relay, the starter will not turn over. I would turn the key, and nothing.

solenoids/relays are cheap and easy to replace and might not be a bad place to start.

to bypass solenoid/relay
with key engaged to the running position put large screwdriver across positive and neg terminals on starter solenoid or relay to bypass the solenoid. Be careful, lots of current and may throw some sparks. If this doesnt work, it should mean you have a bad starter.

also, check voltage coming from battery when you are trying to start it, could be a battery issue.

as far as grounding goes, i grounded mine to a bolt on the frame when i rewired my van and added another battery and it has worked. i just took a wire wheel brush and took the area around it down to the metal to make a clean contact.

another option would be to find the wire that senses the clutch is engaged and just make it permanently "engaged" aka tie it into acc wire or something similar that is "hot"

but isolating the problem is the first step

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 9:59 AM. Reason : ]

6/7/2011 9:57:45 AM

cool thanks. Battery is good. Using my truck battery and the 240sx battery, both fully charged to try this out.

No turning over of starter, Just a loud click. The car did this previously with the other engine in it too. So I either I have 2 bad starters on different engine, or it was the relay always.

I will try this stuff out and let you know how it goes. I think I found the relay, it's in a different location than most people show. but my car is swapped and someone did 5 speed swap it so it makes sense nothing is quite right no it. I'm going to bipass the relay tonight

I have been looking at this for help: http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/7899/img0007dy8.jpg
thanks again





[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 10:28 AM. Reason : .]

6/7/2011 10:18:36 AM

i realized i just told you to short it from positive to ground terminals with the screwdriver, that would be incorrect. short across positive terminal from battery to positive terminal connected to the starter on the relay.

my bad, hope you read this before you try

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 10:51 AM. Reason : ]

6/7/2011 10:50:50 AM

in that diagram you want to connect blk-wht to blk-yel to bypass the relay. If the relay is cheap, i would just replace it while you are in there.

to bypass the clutch sensor you would need to tie the brn-wht wire from the relay to a wire that has power when the key is engaged (i would try with a low current one) such as an acc wire.

this would be pretty easy to test too. Just make you a test wire that can go from relay to another 12v wire and disconnect clutch sensor wire and attach test wire. If it starts up like that, it would point to the clutch interlock switch.

just be careful, lots of current

6/7/2011 10:59:53 AM

thanks man.

at work now not trying till tonight.

I will try this stuff tonight and she what happens and let you know. if it runs ok ill post a vid haha

6/7/2011 11:04:00 AM

if you just hard wire it so on the interlock relay, you have blk-wht and blk-yel connected, you do away with the interlock relay altogether right? Pretty sure it's just a bad relay.

My question is if you do away with the relay altogether after hardwiring those 2 wires, how does the clutch interlock even work anymore? does that only work on the ignition side providing power to ignition only if clutch is depressed?

thanks, I am understanding more about this via your help, much appreciated.

6/7/2011 11:15:56 AM

no, the wire comes from the clutch to the relay. The relay is relying on two "signals" (voltage from clutch sensor wire, voltage from ignition switch). When these two "signals" are present, the relay allows voltage to freely flow from the battery to the starter.


when you go to bypass the starter, you are only going to need to contact the terminals for a short second or two. The engine should crank right up if the starter is still good.

you might be able to hard wire the clutch switch to always be "on" at the relay, but this is dangerous, allowing you to start the car in gear.

i would go ahead and buy a replacement relay, shouldnt be too expensive

http://forums.nicoclub.com/1989-1994-240sx-clutch-interlock-relay-switch-tutorial-t470094.html

oh and get a multimeter and check to see if the relay is getting voltage from the clutch sense wire and the ignition wire. If one of those is not getting voltage when you try and start it, that will point to your fault. You are prob just going to need to re-seat the button/switch that is depressed by the clutch to allow the car to start. if this was a conversion, they may have not seated it quite correctly or it may have moved around.

[Edited on June 7, 2011 at 12:37 PM. Reason : multimeter]

6/7/2011 12:33:03 PM

Car turns over. Had a bad relay and bad ground. thanks again!

6/7/2011 6:55:36 PM