Bad ignition switch or relay???

[64lonske]

1964 Dodge Polara. Turn the key and 90% of the time it cranks right over. But 10% of the time turn the key and no crank. Can here a light click coming from somewhere (relay???). All battery and starter cables clean, tight and good. Sometimes if I hold the key to start it will start cranking after 30-45 seconds. Could it be a bad ignition switch or relay or ???? If any one has experience similar let me know. Just looking for some friendly advise before I start pulling parts and testing. Thanks

 

[QuickBpBp]

Even a Bad ground at battery can do that....

 

[64lonske]

True/thanks I've checked, cleaned and tightened all battery connections.

 

[RemCharger]

To test the relay, put a test light in the yellow wire to relay and turn key to start. If it lights up, then it's either the relay, the starter, or wiring issues in between.
I would lean towards starter shot before relay.
But I did have to replace the relay on my 64 last summer so...

 

[Tony 69]

Did you check the ground wire on the engine or just at the battery

 

[64lonske]

I'll go through all the grounds again and see if it corrects it. Just thought someone may know some magic. But as I've always found, there is little magic when it comes to electrical issues. Usually only luck.

 

[64lonske]

I should have mentioned it's an auto tranny. I think I'll also try jumping the relay. I just thought of this. Could it be the neutral safety switch in the console? Wouldn't that create a no crank situation. I know my shifter pulls pretty easy into reverse. Maybe that needs some adjusting? Just a thought.

 

[RemCharger]

The neutral safety should be on the side of the Trans...
Not likely it if you can hear a click when cranking

 

[Black_Sheep]

Manual or automatic transmission?

 

[Big Bad Dad]

I know this is not common, but when I was a teenager, my 65 Coronet had this problem. It ended up that where the wire lug made the connection inside the starter, on I guess it's the armature, the lug was worn down and loosing the connection at times.

 

[Black_Sheep]

Sorry, I just saw post #7

Could be in the NSS circuit too. The relay grounds through the NSS, a poor connection in the circuit can fail when a load is applied.

 

[64lonske]

I'll start some more checking/testing. Check grounds, I'll jump the relay and see if it cranks, I'll test positive with key on at relay and test ground from NSS at relay. Easy stuff to test. I was hoping for an easy answer, but I'm right back before this post. Ha, electrical is never easy, even on old cars that have so few wires. Best is that there are so few wires that it can only be simple. It's just time and testing. Thanks for all the info. I'll begin my testing and see what I find. I'll post here with results so at least it may help someone else troubleshoot. Thank again!

This guys is pretty helpful for these type of issues - all basic info and common sense. 101 for no crank issues for an older Mopar:

 

[hunt2elk]

I had a similar issue a few years ago. Ended up being a bad connection between the lug and wire of a 1 year old cheap negative battery cable.

 

[snakeoil24]

It could be a dead spot on startsr

 

[64lonske]

Bad relay. Test light lite every time key is turned on the ignition wire from key switch. Wire from NSS tested ground. Car turned over 100% of time when jumpering - using screw driver between + from battery and starter wire. Replaced relay, turns over every time now.

Just to recap. Before replacing relay, I would turn the key and could here the replay snap every time, but no crank 90% of times tried. About 1 out of 10 times turning the key would provide the starter to crank. Replaced reply and everything is now good.

 

[toolmanmike]

1964 Dodge Polara. Turn the key and 90% of the time it cranks right over. But 10% of the time turn the key and no crank. Can here a light click coming from somewhere (relay???). All battery and starter cables clean, tight and good. Sometimes if I hold the key to start it will start cranking after 30-45 seconds. Could it be a bad ignition switch or relay or ???? If any one has experience similar let me know. Just looking for some friendly advise before I start pulling parts and testing. Thanks

Wiggle the wires at the bulkhead connector and see if it starts.

 

[64lonske]

Replacing the relay did the trick. It was a bad relay.

 

[64lonske]

Thought I would add a photo to show the old relay. After taking it apart and looking at the relay. I could have took the time and sanded the contacts and cleaned up the rust and had something that may or may not have continued to work. $22 for a new one gives me a little more assurance.