Vette won't start!!
 

Good day everyone. So I was going to take out the vette for a spin today. I used it last Sunday and everything worked great. I usually have the car on a battery tender when I am not going to use it for a while but did not this time.

I try to start it and nothing. All the lights on the cluster come up, the stereo comes on, everything looks good but when I go to turn the key, nothing. I checked the battery and it reads about 12.1 volts which should be good. I have had battery problems before but this doesn't look to be.

Any ideas?

Check your connections at your battery and at the starter. I would put the charger back on it too. Have your battery tested. How old is the battery?

Battery is an optima red top. It is about 3 years old. When I turn the key, everything (lights, stereo, etc) normally. I don't notice any dimming in anything power related. I have had problems in the past where I turn the key to start the car and nothing, I then turn the key to the off position and turn it again to start the car and it starts.

I remember this issue being related to some brass connectors (or something along those lines) in the ignition switch. I already placed the battery tender back on the car. I will test starting it once the tender shows the battery is near full charge.

Any other ideas?

So, I was able to get it started but the battery has nothing to do with it. Does anyone know how it would act if the issue were the ignition switch?

Ign switch failure usually will have 0 battery power being fed to the interior in one of the positions. So dash will go black when in position 1 or 2 depending on where the failure is. Or the car may act dead when the key is turned to crank. Hopefully you can duplicate the failure and use a Tech-2 to view ign data in all positions. You can also check to see if the starter relay is functioning, if not remove it and check the terminal for power. You'll need to find the schematics to properly check the circuits involved.

I will have to test again, but the car does go dark if I attempt to crank (if I recall correctly).

Where is the starter relay and starter on these cars? Is it something I can check without jacking up the car?

The relay is located in the passenger foot well area, it is referred as the TDR, it has four wires attached to it. One is fused 12v power, one is from the ignition switch, one is from the BCM, and the forth is a violet wire that goes down to the starter. If you have 12V and common from the BCM when you try to start, you should have power on the violet wire to the starter. Starter is located on passenger side, you can try to smack it with something and see if it will crank over.

starter/starter solenoid
 

Just had a problem exactly like this! It's a sad day when your vette doesn't run.

I did a lot of research on this and there are multiple things that could go wrong but I would start at the starter solenoid. You will need to jack it up and get under it. Your starter is located on the passenger side at the rear of the engine. You will have to look up past your exhaust right after the connections to the headers.

Grab a multimeter and check to see if you are getting voltage to your solenoid. There is a positive and negative 3/8" stud that you can put your multimeter on.

My starter solenoid had cracked and the negative stud was hanging off in space. Tighten the connections if you aren't getting voltage and everything looks ok. Make sure your negative battery terminal is DISCONNECTED or else you will be in for a surprise

Let us know!

Thanks for the tip. I will check this out this weekend. I really appreciate everyone's help and will report back hopefully Sunday.

Actually a fully charged battery should read 12.6 volts.

So I am finally scheduled to work on this issue tomorrow. I didn't have a chance last weekend.

Two questions:

1) Given that I will be disconnecting the negative terminal from the battery, when I go to test the starter (attaching voltmeter to positive and negative) what should I be seeing on the voltmeter as a good or bad reading to know?

2) The starter relay...how to I test that?

The ignition switch has FIVE switches in the switch (actually SIX) which have different functions. Some of the contacts are unused. ONE of the switches is used for the CRANK function:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7/DSCF0020.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tionSwitch.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...DSCF0019-1.jpg

Crank / Ignition circuit:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...lectricals.gif

One switch in the IGNITION SWITCH can fail and the rest of the contacts can be fine.

Its usually the higher current load contacts that have the most issues.

BC

Thanks for the post Bill. I have reviewed your original thread on to repair this issue and this is what i believe my issue.

I will take a look at the starter tomorrow morning, if that checks out, I will remove the switch and take a look.

Obviously you need to have the battery connected to test voltage at the starter. You need to disconnect it before you get wrenches in there to tighten the nuts. You should see close to battery voltage so make sure it is fully charged. If you have voltage at the starter the relay is good.

Theres no relay between the battery and the starter solenoid main power terminal. However,, ther is a relay between the S terminal on the solenoid and the ignition switch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7/DSCF0089.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...lectricals.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ercharging.gif

Would I need to have the ignition switch in the on position to test or no key in ignition at all?