I bought a 71 454 auto Vette about 6 months ago. The car ran great until about 3 weeks ago. I parked the car as normal after a drive, hooked up the battery tender. When I went to start the car a few days later a few clicks and nothing else. I replaced the starter today. Checked all the wires and no luck. I have power going to the starter but when I turn the key nothing not a click, drag or sound. Any ideas???
Can anyone recommend a good mechanic in or near Salisbury NC.

 

Hmmm.... nothing eh? Is the shifter fully engaged in "Park"? If it is and still nothing, just for the fun of it, pull it into Neutral (keep your foot on the brake) and try starting it in "N". To pull it into "N" I think you have to have the ignition in the run position (one click forward just before you try turning the engine over to start).

 

Try bypassing the neutral Safety Switch.

Ron

 

If you are getting a noise at the starter...your neutral safety switch is fine...because if you got NO NOISE...then it could be out of adjustment or bad.

CHECK you connection at your battery. JUST because you installed a "battery tender"...you might have created another problem due to not using a special terminal bolt that allows the "battery tender" to be connected...but NOT be connected where you jamb the terminals BETWEEN the factory cable ends and the battery.

The primary point of battery charging failure is at the terminals. IF they are loose...you have a problem. Terminal bolts MUST be tight and the cable NOT be able to be moved/rotated/twisted. I can not tell you yearly how many cars drive in for a quick question or two and when they go to leave they just "click" when they go to crank it...and I raise the hood or go behind the seat and tighten the terminal bolts and they crank up.

Perform a load test on your battery also. Because just because you have the "battery tender" installed...if the connections were incorrectly installed...you could have actually caused the cables to be loose and NOT allow the alternator to do its job and charge the battery. Thus it is down on cranking amps...but yet enough to make the solenoid click.

ALSO...because it can happen....if when you know your battery is GOOD and you go to crank it...there is a chance that this NEW starter may need to be shimmed because the bendix is getting stuck in the teeth of the flywheel. A visual inspection will show that the teeth of the bendix is stuck...which means that the starter needs to be loosen up a bit to free it up and allow it to pull back as designed. ALSO..MAKE SURE that the outer support bracket/brace is attached to the end of starter to support it. Just using the two bolts at the head are NOT enough.

DUB

 

Thanks to all for the advice. I plan to look into it again tomorrow. Based on the information I have received I think it is the neutral safety switch. Any more suggestions would be great. I will post tomorrow if it is the switch.

 

The starter solenoid won't "click" if the neutral safety switch is bad.

Could also be a defective solenoid but I doubt it since you replaced it. The solenoid is that lump on the side of the starter.

 

DID you connect the wires to your solenoid correctly??? If the previous starter clicked...and now the new one does nothing...either it is a bad starter, incorrect wiring at the solenoid...or like some have posted...the neural safety switch.

Did you test the new starter BEFORE you installed it??? Often times I have seen the connections that are on the solenoid are loose and need to be tightened BEFORE installation. The 10 gauge purple wire (normally it is purple) that is located on the solenoid...on the terminal closest to the engine block should get 12 volts when you turn the key to crank.

DUB