Thread: 92 Avenir W11 wont start

Im sure I am missing something electrical, so I posted it here. I did a fresh motor swap, changed the oil/coolant and went to go start it. I hear the fuel pump when I turn it on, but dont hear the starter clicking or anything. Anyone have any ideas? The battery clicks when I turn it on, and the lights and everything work, so im guessing the battery is fine.

do you have spark and fuel? 2 major things you need to check first.

if the battery clicks or not is irrellavant - a battery can power a fuel pump and dash xmas tree and not have enough cranking power to engage the starter - i'd charge the batt first, make sure it's good, then check other stuff.

Alright, yeah the battery is hooked up to a charger right now, when I get back later tonight I might try starting it. I hear the fuel pump running, so I am assuming I have fuel. The car has been sitting since December waiting for a new motor. I swapped out the old motor and hooked up all the sensors I can find. Think the fuel pump might still be bad if its been sitting for 6-7 months?

doubt it. as long as there's plenty of NEW gas in there you should be ok - gas tends to gel up after a while.

1) make sure your gas lines are correct (I've done 2 motor swaps where I put them on backwards lol)
2) check your spark plugs for gum, and replace if necessary
3) check plug wires for spark
4) when you did your motor swap, did you put in a jdm? If so, make sure you put in your old ect sensor
5) make sure your fuses are all in good order, your grounds are attached

hey also worth mentioning is if the new engine hasn't turned in a good long time, I'd suggest throwing a teaspoon of diesel down each cyl, let it sit overnight, and crank the engine by hand a couple times with no sp plugs. This lubes it up nice before you starter crank it.

just my $.02

Well, finally got the starter to click. I forgot to hook up a ground. Now its not turning over but I called up someone and I think im going to check the plug wires and distributor tomorrow.

no no no - if it's not even turning over, pull the starter and jump it - it's probably seized in its housing. Plugs and wires have nothing to do with whether the starter turns the engine over

Yeah, thats true. I hooked up a "Jump Pack" to the battery and the battery seems fine. I was going to steal a battery out of a different car and put it in to see if for some odd reason the battery was dead/low.

I cant jump it right now, because my shift linkage is broken... but I will pull it out and go have the starter tested somewhere this afternoon

ha ha I meant jump the starter. If your batt's fine, then you can take some jumper cables, and carefully attach one set to the batter. then take the ground to the chassis of the starter, one to the positive terminal. make sure you hold the starter to the concrete with your foot, because it will jump and most likley scare the **** out of you even though you expect it. if it doesn't engage, then you know it's a bad starter.

If you insist on taking the starter in, may as well take your batt in at the same time and get them to try both. If you decide to test the starter in your garage, then after testing it and it checks out, I would take off the battery terminal clamps and charge the batt. You might have something drawing current that stops the batt from charging. If in the morning the battery dies prematuraly, then it's a bad batt. If it dies very slowly througout the day, hook the multimeter to the battery terminals, make sure everything in the car is off, get a person in the driver's seat with the door closed to take out fuses one by one (and put back after one by one) while you stand with a dmm on the battery terminals. As soon as you see the voltage stop dropping then you know whatever fuse was just pulled is still pulling current.