Coyote won't start

[Crashontheone]

Hello everyone-

My BDR 1079 won't start and before I take it anywhere for this repair I'm want some input. Here's what it's doing:

Turn key, and all has power.
Hit starter button and relay clicks at passenger fusebox but starter motor doesn't engage. I swapped out the relay to see if it was bad, and no change.
Solenoid does not engage and does not turn starter motor.

Suggestions? This sounds like a bad solenoid but with only 3K miles on it, it sounds premature.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[henrik]

Have you called the company that sold it to you? try call jay at vintage... they must have seen this before

good luck with it...

[Kobura]

I would check the battery voltage. Should be over 12 Volts.

[Cashburn]

Well, since we did not do the install it is hard for me to respond to how it was setup. But let's approach it if we had assembled it.

First things first, we wire the neutral safety switch so it has to be out of gear. That's easy to verify. Every EFI car should be wired this way but perhaps yours is not.

Now if you have 12 volts at the battery and you know the relay is good (since you replaced it) then either the starter is bad or the solenoid is bad. So you need to verify there is 12 volts at the starter solenoid when the button is pressed. If you are not seeing 12 volts then you need to work your way back through the wiring.

[madmaxx]

A starter consists of two parts. The solenoid which allows power to flow to the starter motor when the key is turned. Quick way to determine if its the starter solenoid, starter or ignition wire is as follows.

Place large screwdriver between battery connection on solenoid and solenoid terminal which connects starter. You just have taken the solenoid and ignition switch out of the circuit. If it turns over it is either your solenoid or something in your ignition. search on you tube on how to jump a starter motor, or test a starter. Make sure you are not in gear as the car will roll foward when the starter motor turns over the engine.

I chased my tail for a month on a boat before I realized there was a slave solenoid in front of the starter solenoid on my boat. You will see some sparks with the screwdriver as you make contact.

[Crashontheone]

Hello guys- thank you for the information. Cashburn, many times I've wished my car was finished by you. I've even considered bringing the car to you to go through, but the distance is prohibitive.

I will check for the ignition safety switch, and report back.

Thanks again guys- this forum is great.

[Crashontheone]

Hey gents. Well this has been a ghost-in-the machine investigation. Here's the bottom line: The alternator went bad and constantly attempted to push out 100 amps anytime above idle. Additionally, the shielding on the positive terminal of the alternator caused a short to the case of the alternator. The combination of the shot alternator pushing 100 amps, and the short against the case caused sporadic voltage output to the computer. When the computer had finally had enough of this voltage it shut down and disallowed power to pass through it to the starter motor at engine start.

Solution: We flashed the computer back to original and the engine fired right up. We also cut the metallic shielding back on the alternator away from the case to eliminate the short. The only action item we have now is to replace the alternator.

Hat tip to Paul Kennedy in Des Moines, Ia for sleuthing this one!

[lovehamr]

Wow. I'd have never found that!