Fto Won't Start, No earth between ignition switch and starter motor Options

[Tiggi]

I hope you guys can give me some advice. There's no earth between the ignition switch and starter. The ignition switch and starter are both fine. At the moment I'm hot wiring the FTO to get it started. Could it be the inhibitor switch causing the problem or just a broken earth wire. If so, where do I start to look? Tiggi

[KiT TeUnG 2549]

Well the starter receives its earth ground frum being bolted to the engine. The small solenoid wire comes frum the ignition switch after its gone thru the clutch interlock switch (on manual transmissions) or the shifter position switch (on automatics) Cgeck the starter fuse. On automatics the shifter position switch can be bad or misaligned, or the ignition switch can be faulty. On many manual transmission models the clutch interlock switch have gone bad on models i have seen , or the rubber rubber grommet on the end of the pedal arm that pushes the clutch interlock switch in to allow current to flow to the starter falls off. Leaving an open hole in the interlock arm to which the needle part of the clutch starter interlock switch just passes thru it and not depressed.

Id check the interlock switch if its a manual transmission . Also make sure the ribber grommet is in tact etc.

[Tiggi]

Hi again, I have checked the inhibitor switch and it seems to be in good working order. So I guess there's a short or open circuit between the ignition switch and solenoid. Well anyway, to make things worse, I have managed to hot wire to start the car up, but now it doesn't even want to know. The starter is turning ok, but just won't fire up. It took me 5 minutes to finally crank the engine on Tuesday. I'm gonna have to spend some time on the car over the weekend to sort this extra problem out. Would it be the fuel pump, perhaps? Or would it be the ignition failure sensor, crank/cam sensor that causing the car not to fire up? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Many thanks.

[KiT TeUnG 2549]

There like i previously said. Could most likely be an issue in the ignition switch itself. It could most likely not be sending the needed power to the ECM and other things needed to have the engine run. I had this issue on a few Galant's Galant VR4's , a couple FTO and GTO etc. In half the cases the car would die , or intermittenly die while running and sumtimes had issues while trying to start, it would not signal the starter. This could very well be yur situation, the ignition switch first stopped sending power to the starter and then it is failing mostly to power ECM while switch is on.

[Tiggi]

Hi again, many thanks for your advice. I must admit, I haven't checked the starter fuse. Would that be in the engine bay or inside the cabin? I have the weekend off work so will start working on FTO tomorrow. Forgot to mention that a immobiliser was fitted in the FTO a couple of years ago. That could be causing the problem. I was thinking of testing the ignition switch and fitting a new wire from the ignition switch to the solenoid and that may help to fire up the engine rather than hot wire it everytime. Many thanks for your advice.

[KiT TeUnG 2549]

Well there will be one inside and also in the engine bay fuse panel. IGN fuses and Starter fuse labeled. I doubt teh wire will be bad , its not highly likely to be that. The onlee way maybe if the wire was routed in a bad spot where it has absorbed alot of heat and then shorted out , etc.

[NWM_Tech]

Hi again, many thanks for your advice. I must admit, I haven't checked the starter fuse. Would that be in the engine bay or inside the cabin? I have the weekend off work so will start working on FTO tomorrow. Forgot to mention that a immobiliser was fitted in the FTO a couple of years ago. That could be causing the problem. I was thinking of testing the ignition switch and fitting a new wire from the ignition switch to the solenoid and that may help to fire up the engine rather than hot wire it everytime. Many thanks for your advice.

did you do the obvious like check your battery terminals? I've noticed Mitsu's will get a corroded battery terminal that looks okay until you take it off.

If that's an AM immobi, that's probably the problem. Look for loose AM crimp connectors near the ignition or under dash fuse box.

might help to include the year of the vehicle, and when describing the problem, "No crank" means the starter doesn't even turn, "No start" means the starter turns but the engine doesn't start.

[Tiggi]

Hi, I'm working on the FTO now. It's a 95 model, and I meant No Start. Sorry for any confusion. I suppose I'll have to find the immobiliser. Apparently it's wired to the fuel pump. Have no idea where to look, but giving it a go anyway.

[KiT TeUnG 2549]

I understood wut yu said. Yu maybe misunderstood wut i said.