The little arm that connects the pedal to the switch broke fell out and broke on mine (no clip on the pedal side). I bought a replacement and had a miserable time putting it in. Then my two wires fell off. After that, I'd had enough. I installed a toggle switch that I use as a kill switch and hid it up under the dash. I always push the clutch in to start the car, always have, always will, even though I don't have to.

 

Roger,

You found it but probably by accident. I could not find it tonight so I moved it to the correct part of the site to find easier. I put it in switches and in clutch so it can be found easier on the site.

Here is the link: http://willcoxcorvette.com/product_i...ducts_id=25647

Willcox

 

Be sure to check main ground.
Also check the netural saftey switch.
Ignition switch can also be problem.
I had similar problem in that some times car would start them other times nothing.' Would have to play with clutch and key switch before car would start.
Problem was that main power lead from battery to starter was frailed and when on staret would draw amps and not allow power to flow to starter. Changed wire and problem has been solved.

 

You know, sometimes the car itself needs to splain this stuff to my dumb ***. Anyway, I jumped the neutral safety switch last weekend and starting the car has been uneventful since, so I was all ready to replace the switch this weekend. Today was a gorgeous day here, and I ended up taking my son on a cruise for about a half hour. When I got home, my daughter was waiting, expecting a similar lenght ride, so I drove the car tonight for a full hour in 80 degree temps with flawless performance demonstrating that all heat problems are behind me for the moment. I put the car in the garage, and an hour later noticed a small amount of what looked like coolant on the floor. This didn't alarm me as I thought I had overfilled the system a little when battling the heat problem and tonight would be the time it would vomit any excess, so I decided to back the car out to check the floor more carefully and see if I had dropped anything else. I got in and turned the key and all I heard was a loud "clack" of the solenoid, no starter motor. I tried it a few more times, same thing, loud clack of the solenoid, no starter. I pumped the clutch a couple of times, and it started immediatley like a champ!

OK, so let's see what we have eliminated as the potential problem:

1. The ignition switch. If the ignition wasn't working, I would have had a lot more problems by now.

2. The neutral safety switch: it is presently jumped.

3. The solenoid: if that was bad, I wouldn't have been hearing the loud clack tonight.

4. The battery: if that didn't have enough amperage, it wouldn't have been able to turn the motor like a champ when it did start.

5. The starter motor: for the same reason as the battery, once engaged, it sounded like an animal.

This leaves only two things as far as I can tell, namely, the hot connection to the starter motor and the ground connection to the starter motor. Funny, that is exactly what DWncchs told me to check a week and a half ago. What was it I was saying about my dumb ***? Anyway, I have a new plan for Saturday afternoon that involves the front tires on my ramps and checking/cleaning those connections. Let me know if anyone thinks I have messed this up anywhere along the way!

PK

 

And this repair goes on, and on, and on......

Sunday morning I found some time to work on the car. I turned the key and it started like a champ, so I put it on the driveway up on jack stands. I crawl under there and am immediately faced with a jumble of wires , some visibly in bad shape and the whole mess held together with about 4 pounds of electrical tape.

That's when I realized,
Ahhd been Bubbatized.
(blues riff in G minor to follow)

Not a big surprise that I was having some bad connection problems down there. So, not having the time yesterday morning to unravel the four pounds of electrical tape, I called my neighbor in for a consult. We tested the continuity of everything and everything checked out. But of course it did right then, because the car had just started right up. So he recommended taking the ground strap off and cleaning that whole connection up because it was easy, I had the time to do it, and at least that would be another item crossed off the list, so that's what I did. When finished, the car started right up and I put it away to focus on the rest of the day's tasks. A couple hours later, I had a spare half hour and wanted to take the wife out for a ride. For the first time since I have owned the car, I couldn't get it started. Solenoid went good and loud, no starter motor at all. Well, if she was gonna leave me, I would rather she leave me stranded in my own garage.

So now I have a really big project for this week: clearing enough space in my garage to lift the car up and get after the four pounds of electrical tape. I can't help but feel that there will be a few surprises waiting under all that tape. I'll try to remember to get some pictures. I wanted to take some yesterday, but my hands were so greasy and grimy by the time I thought of it, I didn't want to get the wife's camera all messy.

 

Don't forget the negative battery cable where it attaches to the frame just under the battery.That connection can come and go and does some weird things to the car.

 

Are you sure the problem isn't a bad starter solenoid? On your last post you talked about working over the car with your neighbor. Were you running the car during that time? I'm just trying to eliminate heat soak to the starter as a culprit.

If you are hearing the starter solenoid every time the car won't start, that makes me think that getting electricity to the starter isn't the problem. If it was, you wouldn't be hearing the starter.

 

I am pretty sure it isn't the solenoid, since I can hear that engaging. My neighbor is not yet convinced that it isn't a bad starter motor (with the solenoid still working), but pretty much all the symptoms are consistent with a bad connection, so I am pursuing that at the moment. If I get through the mess on the hot side of the solenoid, and check the battery ground to the frame as suggested above, and still have the problem, I will have no other choice left but to try a different starter motor. Nothing lost there though, because if I went to change a starter motor, and saw the wiring mess that is there, there is no way I would hook a new starter motor up to it. So I would be working on the same project before installing the new starter.

When my neighbor and I were looking at the car, the engine had only run long enough to move the car from the garage to the driveway. I was leaning on the exhaust manifold at one point, that's how cold the engine was. When I moved the car back into the garage, I drove maybe a quarter mile to go around the block so I could go head-in a little easier than backing up 4-5 times to turn around in my driveway. Then, the car had been sitting for 2-3 hours before I tried to take my wife for a ride. It won't get any colder than that until winter sets in.

Thanks for the input though! Let me know if you have any other ideas.

 

A bad starter solenoid will act like one suffering from heat soak. You will hear it click but not engage the starter. Try this if it happens again, hit it with a hammer. No I'm not joking. If that fixes the problem, the solenoid is indeed bad.

 

Again sounds like the same problem I had. How myu mechanic found it was his elbow was up against the power wire from the battery and the wire being frailed was getting hot and not letting voltage flow thur it to starter. Again changed the wire and have not had the problem again. Easy switch and can not do any harm.

 

Interesting. Which wire was that? The hot wire from the battery to the solenoid, or the short hot wire from the solenoid to the starter motor? Presently, my suspicion is the latter on my car.