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Ignition issue

69 R/T

Well-Known Member
Local time
5:14 PM
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
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Location
San Jose, CA
Ok, here's a weird issue that plagued me today which has never occurred before. I'm at a car show and I need to move my car after the police clear the streets. I turn the key and I get no starter action. I jumped the starter relay and the car fires right up. It did that several times while parked along the curb because I decided to stay at the event after the show is over. Subsequently after firing up the car and driving it the 3 mi home, that problem no longer occurred. Ideas??? thoughts???
 
Recently had the same issue. Replaced the starter switch. Hasn't happened since. Airtex part #1S6151
 
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Was the street inclined? Maybe the neutral safety switch is involved (Assuming Automatic trans). Had a similar intermittent issue and if I ran a jumper wire to from the switch terminal at the starter relay to ground, I could start the car using the ignition switch every time. (Shifting to neutral and trying again sometimes worked.)
 
Agree with both above posts, likely it could be either item mentioned. Things in a car that old do wear out.
 
Had same issue with intermittent no-starts. Wound up being the starter relay in my case.
 
every post above is correct. I've had a few starter relays go out, I've had an ignition switch go out....and I've installed a push button starter switch so I didn't need a screw driver under the hood...all good advice above. Hmmmm....if it were me, I'd swap out the relay first since it's cheap and easy
 
Had a similar issue happen to a buddy of mine. Did the screwdriver trick and car started fine. Turned it off, tried the key again and nothing, did it again and jiggled the yellow wire going to starter relay and car fired then. Yellow wire had some issues, but agree too with the starter relay.
 
I failed to mention it's a manual transmission car.
Was the street inclined? Maybe the neutral safety switch is involved (Assuming Automatic trans). Had a similar intermittent issue and if I ran a jumper wire to from the switch terminal at the starter relay to ground, I could start the car using the ignition switch every time. (Shifting to neutral and trying again sometimes worked.)
 
Thank you all for your input. I think the cheapest and easiest thing to do would be to go in my local auto parts store and buy a replacement starter relay, even though this thing looks fairly new even though the car was restored 23 years ago and it sits a lot and it's always garaged. It appears that the wiring harness was also replaced with a correct reproduction one as the wires look very clean and new.
 
Elementary I know - check to make sure all the relay wires/connections are clean/tight.
 
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