Rebel74
Well-Known Member
I have a 74 Charger SE, 318 automatic on the column. The thing starts, but only when it wants to apparently. Sometimes I turn the key and it fires up, other times I turn the key and nothing. Nada. No crank, the dome light doesn't even fade or blink, nothing. A couple times I let it sit a few days and come back to it and it fires up. Other times it stays stubbornly un startable. Recently, had the thing in the garage for several months. Went to start it. Battery was dead. Charged battery. Turned key, it cranked but wouldn't fire up. Sprayed a shot of ether at the air cleaner, turned key, it fired up. I let it run for awhile, then turned it off. Immediately tried to restart it and it was slow (battery had not fully charged I guess). So I left it for a bit. Came back later and turned the key - nothing. No attempt to crank. I checked the battery voltage, it read 12.5. I put key in run position, and jumped the firewall relay. It cranked but would not fire. Several days later I try again, same result. I tried jump starting it off my Xterra, key still doesn't work, and jumping the relay just makes it crank but won't fire.
So how do I go about troubleshooting the issue? Where do I start? I don't think I even have a seatbelt "safety" switch (I have started it before without the seatbelt engaged). I have tried shifting through the gears, tried starting it in neutral, etc but how do I check the neutral safety switch? I suspect this is either a key ignition issue, an issue with the wiring from the key to the relay, an issue in the relay itself, the neutral safety switch or the neutral safety wire. I am thinking it will crank but not fire up when "hotwiring" because the car thinks the key is in the off position maybe? The wiring looks original with some random splicing of semi-new wires here and there. This has been frustrating especially with the "some days it fires up and some days nothing happens at all".
The wiring looks mostly original with some random semi-new wires spliced in here and there, usually not correctly color matched to whatever they were spliced into. So what would be the step by step troubleshooting procedure for this issue?
So how do I go about troubleshooting the issue? Where do I start? I don't think I even have a seatbelt "safety" switch (I have started it before without the seatbelt engaged). I have tried shifting through the gears, tried starting it in neutral, etc but how do I check the neutral safety switch? I suspect this is either a key ignition issue, an issue with the wiring from the key to the relay, an issue in the relay itself, the neutral safety switch or the neutral safety wire. I am thinking it will crank but not fire up when "hotwiring" because the car thinks the key is in the off position maybe? The wiring looks original with some random splicing of semi-new wires here and there. This has been frustrating especially with the "some days it fires up and some days nothing happens at all".
The wiring looks mostly original with some random semi-new wires spliced in here and there, usually not correctly color matched to whatever they were spliced into. So what would be the step by step troubleshooting procedure for this issue?
