Tallicat Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) Turn key and nothing, no click, doesn't turnover. All lights function properly, just drove car yesterday. Battery is charged (even put on charger). Very strange. Could it be the starter? I checked fuses 1 and 16 and they are fine. Edited October 9, 2020 by Tallicat Add language Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) Going through this same scenario with my grandsons 89. See the last posts in the recent saving the car from the crusher thread. Mine is not resolved yet, but in my case, we have checked output from the ignition switch on top of the column, which is battery voltage but we only get 0.48v at the start terminal of the starter, so either neutral safety or possibly the anti theft has a poor connection. Exact same symptoms as yours. In our case, the starter tests good and starts if hotwired Edited October 9, 2020 by 2seater 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tallicat Posted October 10, 2020 Topic Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 I had a hunch it was the anti theft, can it be disabled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 It could be disable by removing an inline fuse but the theft deterrent system should be disabled from working by default until you activate it. The starter interrupt relay is what prevents the starter from operating. It is controlled by the theft deterrent system but the relay itself or the circuit for it could be bad. I think 2seater is currently working on the same problem you are having. Perhaps he will find a solution and post what he did to correct the problem soon. I've never had this problem before so I don't have much to offer as far as troubleshooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Yes, same symptoms as I mentioned before. We went after this issue today. I want to reiterate that we had previously verified the starter was good and indeed the car would start if we touched a hot wire to the start terminal of the starter. Early today we pulled the relay for the anti theft system and installed a jumper between terminals 87a and 30 of the relay socket, essentially tying both yellow wires together and disabling the system. The car started right up and started multiple times as we moved it around and drove it on the new lift installed today. The reason I mention this is, when we went to remove the car from the lift, it would not start. In between we had installed a headlight harness and tidied up the items on top and underneath from our attempt to repair the no start in a parking lot. Going back over our previous work, we found the power was still good at the ignition switch and the jumper for the anti theft but nothing to the starter terminal, again. The only thing left was the neutral safety switch and we found we could reach the connector for the switch from below so while one person held the key in start, another wiggled the connector of the neutral safety and lo and behold, it started right up. We pulled the connector which looked pretty grungy on the inside so cleaned it as best possible with electrical spray and a cloth and repeated the spray, install, remove and wipe a couple times. Acting on the hunch that the anti theft jumper was not the real fix but simple coincidence, removed the bypass and reinstalled the relay and it again started. We reckon the initial feeling around trying to see the neutral safety may have been enough to make a connection prior to install the jumper in the anti theft and gave a false repair. In any case, we did reinstall the bypass, assuming it would fail at some point? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tallicat Posted October 11, 2020 Topic Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 Neutral safety switch huh? Ok, appreciate the advice. I'm not sure where that is located but will research. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 I know the last post was long and winding, and the actual experience was frustrating. It is possible, although unlikely, that both the anti theft and transaxle position sensor were at fault. As it turns out, it isn’t the sensor itself but the connector was oily and looked a bit green on the connector after we got the plug off. The reason I hedge on this is I think we were misled because while looking for the transaxle switch, we were feeling around trying to locate it and may have affected the connection. The sensor is a flat black box that surrounds the shifter shaft itself under the lever the shift cable connects to on top of the transaxle. The wiring connection, with seven or eight terminals, faces the drivers side. It is difficult to see from the top and may be required to remove the cruise control servo for better access. It was just serendipity that we had the car up in the air on a trial of the lift and we discovered the plug could be seen from below but not the sensor itself. I wish I could be more positive but some problems are cured by just cleaning the connections and in the back of your mind you know that poor connection could return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 My friend Kendall has long said that for as dependent as the Reatta is on electrical systems he is surprised by the connectors not being as good as they should be. But he is now saying that about most car makers today so I guess this is another area that the Reatta is a trendsetter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tallicat Posted October 17, 2020 Topic Author Share Posted October 17, 2020 Man, after all that researching about why it wouldn't crank and all I had to do was move the tilt steering wheel from it's full up location. Amazing....I never had put it the wheel all the way up and I won't again unless I want to use it as an anti theft device...lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Good for you that it was such an easy fix, but methinks you are on borrowed time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davetheant Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) On 10/17/2020 at 11:37 AM, Tallicat said: Man, after all that researching about why it wouldn't crank and all I had to do was move the tilt steering wheel from it's full up location. Amazing....I never had put it the wheel all the way up and I won't again unless I want to use it as an anti theft device...lol. Same situation here! I had the steering wheel all the way up and troubleshooted the no crank/no start for hours. Learned a lot along the way but never thought to adjust the steering wheel. What a wild goose chase. So, what's the reason this occurs? I was telling my dad about this and he thought a wire to the starter is getting pinched. Is this a feature or a bug? Edited April 16, 2023 by davetheant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padgett Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Maladjusted rod from key to start switch/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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