Okay, I have been driving my 87 coupe equiped with the 4+3 Manual Transmission around and everything has been running great and having no problems. Today I drove it to the gym, got done working out and went to my car. I hopped in it, turned the key and nothing happened. The battery is not dead because when I turn the key, the lights light up, the radio turns on and I can roll my windows up and down fine. But it doesn't even sound like the starter is trying to turn over. I just turn the key and nothing. Very irritating.

I am thinking the chip in my key might have gotten screwed up or something. I am not sure, though. Has anyone every had this problem before?

 

I HAD THIS PROBLEM ON THE WEEKEND. I MANAGED TO START UP IN NEUTRAL.NOT SURE IF IT WAS THE KEY OR IT WAS THE NEUTRAL SWITCH ON THE SHIFTER.IT HAS NOT HAPPENED AGAIN YET

 

Could be a couple of things:

1. key chip
2. VATS engaged - wait 3-5 minutes and try again
3. Battery

* FSM & Search/Advanced/Archives will get you alot of info on your problem

 

There is a search function, you will find my following standard answer there. You have a VATS circuit problem, here is a diagnostic procedure to find out where the problem is. When it won't crank, unplug the clutch safety switch and jump the connector. Measure the voltage on the jumper when you hit crank position. If there is 12v but no clicking or cranking, you have a poor battery cable connection, discharged or defective battery, or a defective starter solenoid. If no 12v, then remove the kick panel above the drivers feet and find the 2 wires from above the steering column and unplug. Insert key in the ign and measure the resistance across the two wires, it should be the same as the pellet and if more than 4% away from the pellet or above 13k ohms, you need a new ign lock which will have new contacts that make connection to the key pellet. If resistance measures ok, then you have a defective start enable relay or VATS module. Try the start enable relay first. You can temporarily bypass VATS by connecting a fixed resistor the same value as the pellet across the wiring harness socket (Goes to the VATS module). You can use a 1/4 watt 5% resistor or combination of resistors within 4% of your pellet value from Radio Shack. Do not permanently bypass VATS because 99% of thefts are done by bashing the column and jumping the ignition.

 

Check for a burnt cable that goes to the starter
it happened once to me

 

Same thing happened to me a couple of years back. After all said & done, it turned out to be a bad starter.

 

Yes,it sounds like a starter problem,but maybe its the tiny wire
check for the wires,go under the car,or look near the oil dipstick try to touch the starter nuts maybe they fell off and your cable its in the air,check for a cut wire there too,it can be burnt or broken for the heat of the exhaust manifolds running there .-
check that ...then let us know !

 

Sammy, nobody wants to touch a starters nuts! especially if they fell off

You can try a little WD-40 on a rag and wipe the key down good, this helped me out in the past.

 

lol...today i had a starter problem...
but could be the battery too..i will post a thread about it